


Getting your life back

by katbux



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU - After the Order of Pheonix, Crack, Dark Neville Longbottom, Domestic Fluff, Dumbledore Bashing, F/M, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, Good Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Good Dark Side, Good Death Eaters, Good Voldemort (Harry Potter), Harry Potter is Not a Potter, Harry Potter is a Malfoy, Horcruxes, Jealousy, Light side bashing, Luna is a Malfoy, Luna is awesome, M/M, Manipulation, Multi, New Family, OOC - everybody, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Twins, twincest (minor)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-05-23 17:39:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 74,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14938866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katbux/pseuds/katbux
Summary: Boy who lived? A lieVoldemort? A lieJoin Harry and his real friends on journey to discover old betrayals, lies of old goats and new love and family.ORThere is one secret, that no one knows, he has the biggest crush on his potions professor. How is it possible you ask? Just look at him! Tall, dark and mysterious with deep black eyes and pale silky skin… and you know what they say about men with big noses! He doesn’t even mind that Severus used to be a death eater, quite the opposite. Things he found in the old Black house made him see, that Dumbledore was not entirely honest with him and that there might be different side to the whole Light vs. Dark war.





	1. Different point of view

After the fiasco at the Ministry Harry is allowed to spend most of the summer at the Grimmauld place.  _ Dumbledore probably thinks I need something to cheer me up after the death of my last hope to get rid of the Dursleys anytime soon. Not that it works, but still better than staying at that hell hole I must call home. _

Despite not being locked at the Dursleys, he is not feeling very social. He spends quite a lot of time alone, sullenly wandering through the empty rooms of what once was a great and beautiful house. He hates that everybody tiptoes around him, even his friends are unusually quiet and worried. _It is as if they are waiting when I will break down and start crying and screaming._ _Ugh, the truth is, I’m not that sad, I’m angry, furious. How could I be that fucking stupid? It was an obvious trap!_ Harry beats himself. _What did cloud my judgement? Others think it was love for my godfather, but I know it is not the truth. I did not know Sirius that well, we never had much time together. He was a friend of my father, not mine._

Pleasant surprise is, that even though they did not know much about each other, Sirius made him his heir. The house and everything in it now belongs to Harry.

 

He usually goes to the breakfast little bit later than the others. He does not need them to stare at him as he eats. When he comes to the kitchen this morning he finds it full of people. Not only those who currently live there, Weasleys, Hermione, Remus, but also few people from the Order. “What’s going on here?” He asks loudly through the noise, noticing Kreacher in the corner looking very distraught. “Oh, Harry dear. Good morning! The breakfast is on the stove, sit down, sit!” exclaims Mrs. Weasley cheerfully. “You need to have a proper meal, we are going to continue the cleaning we started last Christmas! There is still a lot of rooms full of dark and dangerous things. If we are to live here…” “What! No, you can’t! This is not your house!” interrupts Harry. “You have no right to throw away stuff that belong to this family. This is my house, I won’t allow it!”

All noise in the room quiets down and only shocked silence and few gasps are heard. “But, but Harry! You must understand. I can not allow my children to be here with all these horrid things!” 

“With all due respect Mrs. Weasley, no one forces you to be here. You have your own house, why don’t you use it? How would you like it, if I invited myself into your house and started to throw your stuff away?! You don’t even know what half of the things are, you just assume that they’re dark because they belonged to the Blacks!” Harry is yelling and everyone is just staring at him like he is crazy. “I am Sirius’ heir and this house belongs to me together with everything in it. I forbid anything to be thrown away!” Molly, Ginny and Hermione are getting very red and preparing to start yelling. It is always their first reaction when somebody disagrees with them. 

Before they can start, Harry has his final word, this time speaking more calmly and quietly: “If anything will disappear from this house, you will pay me back and we all know you can not afford it! Kreacher make sure they follow my orders and call me immediately in case they will go against them!” with that he turns around on the spot and leaves the kitchen.

“Harry James Potter!” screeches the Weasley matron “You will immediately come back here and apologize! Right this instant!” Harry ignores her.  _ Who she thinks she is! I’m not her child! She has no right to command me or live in this house. I know their place is a shack, but don’t they have a little bit of pride in them? How can you force yourself into someone’s home and then just assume you’re in charge? I hope they will all fuck off back where they came from. _

 

Harry climbs the stairs until he is on the fourth floor, there is no one here. They always used the lower floors so this one remained dark and dirty, but at least no one will bother him here. Suddenly Kreacher pops right in from of him “Master, allow me to thank you for defending this noble household in front these blood traitors and muggle lovers who invaded it. Kreacher is your faithful servant. I will do anything you ask for Master! I knew the noble blood you inherited from your grandmother Dorea Black will show itself someday!” he says with almost fanatic glint in his eyes and bows deeply.  _ Interesting, his help can be very useful. In the end everybody always says that the elf magic is much stronger than that of a wizard. I can surely use his help and if I can gain his full devotion, he can be a very strong ally. _

“Thank you Kreacher, I’m glad that at least someone in this house is on my side. I will need you to find me the best room in the house and clean it. I don’t want to share a bedroom anymore.” 

“Of course Master! Kreacher will prepare the best room for you! The bedroom of my poor Mistress was the most luxurious one, however that beast destroyed it!” Harry remembered that Sirius was holding the hippogriff in his mother’s bedroom as if it was a stable.  _ Who the fuck does that?! I know he hated his mother, but holding half eagle, half horse in a house, in a bedroom? There are stables in the garden for fuck sake. _

“I can prepare you young Master Regulus’ bedroom, Sir. It is very comfortable as well. It is here on the fourth floor, together with smaller library and a sitting room. If I may Master, I can block the whole floor for anybody but you and me, that way no one will disturb you.” 

“Yes, that would be acceptable Kreacher. Make sure no one can enter this or the higher floors, move all the books into this smaller library and anything valuable to the floors above. We can go through the things later on, I want to see what I inherited. I’m done with them using this house as if it is their own. This is the first thing that is mine, I won’t let anyone take it from me!”

“Certainly Sir, as you wish. However one last suggestion. The library on this floor is rather small. It was mainly used as Master Regulus’ personal library, I am not able to fit here all the books. I can block the entrance to the main library and create a door for you here.”

“Yes, that will be okay, also take all the books from our guests that belong to the House Black. I know Hermione has quite a lot of them stashed in her room.”

“If you would follow me Master, I will now show you your new room.” Kreacher bows and leads him to the door on the left side of the landing. The room is dusty and dark with the blinds closed, but Kreacher just snaps his fingers and things start moving. The blinds move aside and the dust collects itself into a big ball in the middle of the room which disappears with another click of the elf’s fingers. Harry finds himself in a spacious bedroom done in Slytherin colors - green and silver with dark wooden floors and furniture. 

He spends the afternoon reading and exploring his new rooms, the “small” library as Kreacher called it is bigger than the whole first floor of Dursley’s house and has hundreds of books and some very comfortable chairs. All food he gets is brought by Kreacher. The elf informs him that several Weasleys and the Mudblood tried to go to him, but they weren’t able to get through the wards. 

_ Thank god the wards worked. I’m in no mood for listening to their babbling and yelling. I can imagine what they would say. They are all for sure on Mrs. Wesley’s side. They can all go fuck themselves. Ron with his “ugh mate, how could you!” and Hermione with her haughty “this is not how the Saviour should behave!” I don’t know if I want to be friends with them anymore. Ugh! I sound like a twelve years old. But really. Everytime we talk to each other it is always about them or about how they assume I should behave. Wouldn’t good friends support me in whatever I want to do? _

  
  


He is in his new library reading, when he hears the cough for the first time. “Who is there?” he takes his wand from the night table. “Cough, cough. Hey! Open up the drapes, I can’t see anything!” Harry slowly stands and walks to a pair of drapes hanging near the window to the garden. He opens them to reveal a painting of a dark haired young man, maybe sixteen years old. “Who are you?” they both ask at the same time. “I’m Harry, Harry Potter. The owner of this house” Harry states proudly. He is extremely proud of his house even if it needs several good scrubs. It was what he was dreaming of as a child while being locked in the cupboard. He imagined himself being an owner of a big mansion, how his house would look like, how many rooms and most importantly windows it will have.

“Don’t lie to me! This is not your house. It belongs to the Black family! You are not one of us. I’m Regulus Black and I know our family tree!” “I am your brother’s heir and also my grandmother was a Black, Dorea Black. My father was James Potter.”

“Hmm, interesting. So you are the son of that idiot, that convinced my brother to betray his family and support those extremist that call themselves the Light side. What a bunch of fanatics. I’ve been here for almost 15 years, not talking to anyone, tell me what happened? Did we win?”  _ We? Oh, right! He was a Death Eater. _

“Hate to break it to you pal, but your Dark lord was defeated and is presumed dead.”

“What, no! It can’t be. Tell me everything you know!” commands Regulus and Harry sees no reason why not to. He tells him that Voldemort is dead, when he died, even though he leaves out that he was the one who supposedly killed him. Regulus has many questions on how the wizarding world looks today, how is the Ministry etc.

 

They talked for several hours and it was obvious that Reggie started to get angrier and angrier at what he heard. “Fucking Dumbledore! Ruining our society and magic. Allowing muggles to infiltrate us and take our heritage. Did you know, that the more time our blood is mixed with Muggles, the less magic we have? Hundred years ago even the weakest wizard was more powerful than most of in these days? It is all because of breeding with muggles!”

“Really? But if we won’t mix with muggles then we will become inbred and there will be retards everywhere!”

“Do I look like a retard to you?” exclaims Regulus angrily. “I have absolutely no muggle blood in me, no one from my family does, nor the other families of the Sacred 28. I’m not saying that we should breed only with other wizards, there are many magical beings in this world. This is how it was always done! The more creature blood you had in your family, the stronger children were born.”

“But how this can be? Creatures are not accepted in the society, they can not get a job and they are considered as second rate citizens by most. My uncle is a werewolf and I know he has troubles finding a job. He was a teacher at Hogwarts and when the parents found out he is a werewolf, they petitioned the Board to fire him or they will pull children from the school.”

“People are stupid, they do not think for themselves, they just listen to the Ministry and people of power like Dumbledore. I always believed that he was the one who was behind the movement against creatures. He even wanted to pass a creature registration law, so everyone who is not a wizard must be registered at the Ministry. Our side was fighting tooth and nail against it.”

Harry doesn’t know what to believe. What Regulus says makes sense, but why would Dumbledore make people believe, that creatures are bad and muggles are our hope? Despite what many have believed, he was not entirely supportive of the idea of exposing their world to muggles. Regulus had many good points on how the wizards were always those who adjusted their ways to make the muggleborns feel welcome and let’s not forget that he was raised by the worst kind of muggles. He knew not all of them were bad, but fear and jealousy can turn even the kindest person evil and muggles had very advanced weapons, that could wipe out the whole world.

_ You should go and talk about it with someone from the Order or Dumbledore. They will listen and can explain their side  _ said Harry’s Gryffindor side (sounding suspiciously like Hermione),  _ Will they thou?  _ That was his inner Slytherin  _ They never allow you to attend their meetings, they consider you a child even though they want you to protect them and kill Voldemort. And don’t forget that Dumbledore forced you to return to Surrey every summer even though he knew you were being abused! Why trust them? _

For once in his life, Harry decided to ignore his brash Gryffindor side. He needed more information, but where to get them?

“Listen Reggie, what you are saying makes sense, but how can I know you are not twisting the truth? You’re a Slytherin after all and they are taught how to manipulate people from very young age. Do you have any proof of what you’re claiming?” Harry asked cautiously, not wanting to offend Reg.

“This library is full of books, feel free to read them. They will confirm what I said. You can start with those in the bottom shelf next to the door. They are about history of wizards and genealogy of the great houses.”

 

He spends most of his summer avoiding the others and reading and talking to Reg, who encouraged him to look into different books on pureblood culture, Wizengamot working, law or proper behaviour. He finds out that even though the Potters were not one of the Sacred 28 families, they were still considered Purebloods with quite a lot of wealth, political influence and several seats in Wizengamot. He wants to go to Gringotts when they will go buy their school supplies and get clarification on what happened with the Potter seats after his parent’s death, but the school books just appear in his room one day. 

When he asks Kreacher what happened, the elf informs him that Mrs. Weasley went to the Alley alone to buy the supplies for everyone as she thinks it is too dangerous for them to go out. This resulted in another fight between them.  _ Who does she think she is? She can’t hold me prisoner in my own house! I don’t need her permission to leave!  _ So Harry decided he will go on his own.

He prepares to go on Wednesday, hoping to avoid the weekend crowd. However he is spotted as he tries to leave by Remus. 

“Harry! What are you doing cub? You can’t go outside!”

_ Hell, must he yell so much?  _ Of course the whole household comes running to the entrance hall to investigate the commotion. 

“What happened? What is going on?” is heard from all sides. 

This of course sets of Lady Black who starts to scream: “Filth! How dare you to disgrace my noble home with your presence! Leave!...” Harry uses the momentary chaos to run back to safety of his own floor.

 

Harry lays in his bed still fuming about having to stay in the house when Kreacher pops in. “Master! The Old man is here, he wishes to talk to you Sir.”  _ Dumbledore?! They called Dumbledore on me? That meddling bitch, I’m sure it was her. How dare she! _

They sit in the kitchen alone and the Headmaster proceeds to list all the supposed bad things Harry did: being rude to Molly, not talking to his friends, not allowing them to clean the house, trying to leave alone etc. Harry just sits there silently fuming. He knows that no matter what he says, it will be ignored.

“You have nothing to say my boy? I know you are sad because of what happened with Sirius, but you can’t vent it on those around you. Molly loves you as if you were her own son and wishes just the best for you” Dumbledore says, his grandfatherly act full on, including the annoying twinkle in his eye.

_ How can she think of me as a son? She doesn't know me. Yes, I visited them for few summers, but I spent most of the time outside with her children. We did not talk, she is just a mother of my friend, nothing more. She has no right to meddle in my life or tell me what to do _ . Harry thinks, but remains quiet, looking at the table.

Dumbledore is quiet for a while and then continues: “You know we can not let you leave this house, right? Voldemort’s supporters can be anywhere.”

No response from Harry.

“You’re not giving me another option Harry, I will alter the wards of this house to not allow you to leave. You won’t be able to leave until 1st September”

“What?! You can’t! You can’t keep me a prisoner here.”

“This is for your own good Harry, you’re blinded by your grief and I don’t trust you to not make something radical.” with that Dumbledore just leaves, leaving Harry alone in the kitchen.

When he gets out of his shock, he gets up to follow him, but the Headmaster is long gone. He tries to open the door but it won’t budge. “FUCK!” he run upstairs to talk to the only one who would understand his current feelings about that old fool.

 

It was obvious that Regulus hated Dumbledore and the whole “Light ideology”. He talked about how the Light followers led by Dumbledore purposely convinced the public that the dark faction wanted to kill all the muggles and rule them all and tried to discredit Tom Riddle who was their leader. It was also obvious that Reg admired him a lot, describing him as a very charming and intelligent man. He painted completely different picture of Riddle than the one Harry knew. Voldemort was very active in politics and as an heir of Slytherin bloodline he had quite a lot of power in Wizengamot. His main goal was to ensure, that the wizarding world stays hidden from Muggles and that wizarding traditions and customs are preserved.

For example, Harry never heard of Samhain and Yule before, apparently these were the holidays the wizarding world celebrated instead of Halloween and Christmas. When Regulus was at school, Dumbledore decided, that in order to make the muggleborns feel more welcome, they will celebrate muggle holidays. 

One thing is sure, not everything is as it seems. The dark side agenda was never as radical as he believed, Harry actually agreed with most of their points.


	2. Back to school

The first day of a new school year finally came and the Ministry was sending cars to pick them up from Grimmauld place. 

“I don’t understand why we need to use cars to get to the station. Why can’t we apparate or use the Floo?” Harry grumbles. It was always strange to him. Most of his schoolmates did not use the entry on the muggle side of the station. He really hates all the fuss that comes with using Ministry cars and being accompanied by the Aurors. Plus surely Floo is safer than traveling through muggle London.

They finally get to the train, after saying their goodbyes and go looking for an empty compartment. Ron and Hermione need to the meet with other prefects, so he is stuck with Ginny.

_ I hope she won’t be trailing me the whole year again. I don’t know what was worse, first she was my little stalker, always following me, but at least she was quiet. After I saved her from the Chamber, she became way more confident and started to touching me and talk to me every chance she’s got. And those looks! I know the cow thinks she looks flirty and seductive, but in reality she looks constipated. As if I could be with someone like her! Little tart! No, I could never be with her, not only because she looks like my mother, but because I want someone who has class and manners, who can hold intelligent conversation, someone dark, with sexy voice… NO! STOP brain, not going there! _

“Hey! Luna, Neville, can we join you?” he is relieved when he finds a compartment with two of his favorite Hogwarts students and does not have to be alone with her any longer. They spend the ride talking about their summer and soon they are nearing the school.

_ Luna and Neville are awesome, one of the few people I genuinely like. Even when we were on good terms, all Hermione talks about is studying, or how I should apply myself more to represent a good picture as the Saviour of the wizarding world. Can’t she understand I don’t give a fuck about public’s opinion? And Ron! He can’t talk about anything else but quidditch, chess and complaining about their lack of money and Hermione forcing him to study. Can you blame me for avoiding them as much as possible? _

 

Harry is sitting at the Welcoming feast, lost in thoughts on what he should do.

_ Maybe I should talk with more people, maybe also from other houses. All my friends are from light families, they just repeat what they heard at home. But who can I talk to? I don’t know anyone who is dark or at least grey. _

He thinks back to his talks with Regulus, to people who were his friends: Barty Crouch, Lestrange brothers, Nott, Greengrass, Avery, Yaxley. Their children were all in Slytherin. He does not share his fellow Gryffindors’ hate for all Slytherin, he often thinks about how would his life look like, if he accepted Malfoy’s friendship in the first year.  _ Draco IS a little prick, but most of the arguments are started by him and Ron, maybe I could talk to him? I don’t have much options, I don’t know anyone from Slytherin. But how do I approach him? _

 

The first week of school is over and Harry still tries to come up with a way how to get Malfoy alone and how to talk with him. The classes are not that hard as they mostly repeat what they learned last year. Harry is very glad that he was allowed to drop Divination, he would not survive another year of listening how he will die this week without cursing that stupid fraud. Instead of Divination, he picks up the study of Ancient Runes. Mostly because the books on rituals and wards he read in summer were really cool.

The only interesting thing of the week is the change of their Potions professor. Professor Slughorn will be teaching Potions and Snape is the new DADA professor. 

_ I hope he will last longer than a year _ .  _ It would be good to have him in a class I’m good at. Maybe he will start to like me more, if I’m not botching his precious potions. And if not, at least we will finally have a capable teacher. Even though he can be really mean, I must admit he is one of the best teachers in the school. So what that he is favoring his Snakes? Someone has to. I would do the same if I was in his position, everybody else seems to be against them! _

The advantage was also, that Harry is allowed to continue in N.E.W.T. level Potions class. Hedwiga brings him his ordered copy of Advanced Potion-Making by Libatius Borage when the thought strikes him.  _ How did I not think of this sooner?! I don’t need to approach him to get him alone, I can just send him an owl and ask him to meet me! _ He almost facepalms at how stupid he was.

 

Harry is sitting in a secluded part of the common room, Runes book in his hands acting as a cover. Hermione was very proud when she found out he switched Divination for Runes. It was her favorite subject since their third year, so when he pretended to study, she ensured he won’t be bothered by anyone. So far she got rid of Ron, his annoying little sister and the creepy little Creevey brothers.  _ Even self righteous know-it-alls are good for something _ chuckles Harry.

He was sitting there for at least an hour and still did not come up with what to write. He disregarded at least 10 versions already. The problem is, how to formulate the note so Malfoy won’t think it is some sort of trap and comes with half of the Slytherin. After another half an hour he gave up and and scrambled short note: 

 

**_“Malfoy,_ **

 

**_meet me at the 7th floor, near the painting of Barnabas the Barmy tomorrow after dinner. I need to speak to you in urgent matter. Come alone! It is_ ** **_NOT a trap_ ** **_. Gryffindor’s honor ;)_ **

 

**_H.P.”_ **

 

_ Not the most subtle, but whatever. Malfoy wouldn’t expect subtlety from a Gryffindor. I will use father’s cloak and Marauder’s map to make sure he is alone before meeting him. Now I just need to run to the owlery to send it.  _ Harry looks at the clock on the mantle:  _ FUCK it’s 5 minute until curfew!  _ He quickly runs upstairs to grab the cloak and the map and sneaks out when last of the schoolmates are entering the common room.

He picks one of the school owls, Hedwig is too recognizable and sends the note. Now he needs to find a way back without notice. He sees dots of Peeves and Filch on the third floor, so he knows to avoid that part, the only other way is through the fourth floor. There is one lonely dot - Severus Snape.  _ Should I risk it? _ The temptation is too big. For there is one secret, that no one knows, he has the biggest crush on his former potions professor. How is it possible you ask? Just look at him! Tall, dark and mysterious with deep black eyes and pale silky skin… and you know what they say about men with big noses! He doesn’t even mind that Severus used to be a death eater, quite the opposite. Things he found in the old Black house made him see, that Dumbledore was not entirely honest with him and that there might be different side to the whole Light vs. Dark war.

Harry closes the map and covers himself with the cloak. He stops on the fourth floor corridor and just looks.  _ How can someone be so perfect?! Why must he hate me? I would give anything if he just looked at me as myself and not see my father instead. It is not my fault that my idiot father and his friends bullied him! If I would go to school with him, I would...SIGH. _

“Who is there?”  _ Shit!  _ “Come on, show yourself! Reveals hominem!” Suddenly a little blue letters started to glow above Harry’s head. “Potter! Immediately show yourself!” There was nothing else to do, so he just took down his cloak and stood there with his head down. 

“What are you doing outside so late?”

“I’m sorry sir, I could not sleep” said Harry meekly.

“You look like shit Potter”  _ Thank you dear, you look fabulous as well _ thinks Harry sarcastically. 

“Why can’t you sleep?”  _ Thinking of you _ “Hmm, I never slept that much and since the thing in the Department of mysteries...”

“Are you having nightmares?” Harry just nods, it is as good excuse as any. 

“Here, take this. It is a Dreamless sleep potion. Just take two drops right before the bed and you will sleep the whole night. But do not use it more than twice a week and no more than two drops! The potion is addictive and it loses its potency if used too often.”

Harry can’t believe his eyes, did Severus really help him and didn’t even take any points?

“Thank you, sir!”

“You’re welcome Potter and now run back to your dorms.”

Harry can’t believe his luck, he quickly turns around and starts to walk.

“Oh and Potter?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Detention! I’ll see you on Friday at 7.”

“FUCK!”

“And 50 points for language! I believe Gryffindor is back to zero.” Snape smirked, but Harry just rolls his eyes.  _ Of course dear. If I didn’t love the git that much…. _


	3. Facing the Dragon

He did not take the potion. He carefully hid it in his trunk. It was a gift from his love, he won’t use it unless necessary!  _ I’m acting like twelve year old girl! _ giggles Harry. But the fact is, he does not have any nightmares anymore, he used to have them after the cemetery and Cedric’s death, but now? Nothing, nada. Yes, he fought with Voldemort (not his first, nor last time), yes, his godfather died, but honestly, he didn’t even know the guy. He met Sirius like 2 times before last summer and yes he seemed okay at first, even if little unsteady (you can take a man from Azkaban, but you can never take Azkaban from a man), but after he saw how Sirius treated Severus, constantly calling him names and insulting him, he lost all respect for the man.

Harry tried to talk to him and Remus, tried to find out why, but all he got from them was: “Because he is Snivellius, the greasy git!”. It reminded him of Dudley and his group of lackeys. So from then on, he did not give a shit about his godfather or Remus.

 

The day ran uneventful, but by the dinner Harry got anxious. He could not stop thinking what he will do if Malfoy won’t show up.  _ And how do I get rid of Ron and Hermione? _ By the time the dinner ended he is a nervous wreck. He isn’t even hungry, but he notices Hermione watching him, so he forces himself to eat at least something. He quickly mumbles some excuse about needing to go to the library and runs. He ducks in an alcove outside of the Great Hall and puts on the cloak. He gets to the agreed meeting point but Malfoy is not there yet. He opens the map and starts to look for him.  _ The little prick still sits in the Great Hall! _ Harry sits down across the painting of Barnabas the barmy, making sure he is covered from head to toe and watches Malfoy’s dot on the Marauders’ map.

Finally when almost all students left the dinner, Malfoy’s dot started to move. But he was still surrounded by his pack of friends, heading to the dungeons.  _ Crap! What now?  _ Halfway to the dungeons Malfoy splits from his friends and heads to the seventh floor.  _ Finally you dickhead, you did it on purpose! You saw me leave the Great hall and left me waiting as long as possible! Typical Malfoy, the little prick! _

Harry keeps tracking him until he is right behind the corner, then he takes down the cloak, closes the map and stuffs them into his bag. No need for Malfoy to know he has them.

“Scarhead! What do you want? Have you finally gone mental?”

“Good to see you too Ferret! Wait, not here, we need more private place.” Harry starts to walk in front of the opposite wall murmuring about needing a private place.

“You’re really out of your m...” Malfoy suddenly shuts up when a door appears. “What is this place?”

“It is called Room of requirement. It changes based on what you need at the moment, you just need to walk three times in front of the wall, thinking about what you need. Take this as my gesture of goodwill.”

The room that appeared was a small sitting room with fireplace and comfy looking chairs, one red and gold, the other green and silver. Malfoy just raises his eyebrows, but does not comment and sits in the Slytherin colored chair.  _ Obviously. He probably wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere near anything red and gold. _

“Okay Potter, I’m here despite the stupid note you sent and that I have no desire talk to you. So spill. What is this urgent matter?”

_ Fuck, how should I start? I spent so much time on thinking how to get him here, that I forgot to worry about what to say. _ “Ehm….”

“What! You did not drag me here just to look at me?! I mean, I know I’m the best looking guy in the school, but I didn’t think you swing that way!”

“Pche! You wish Malfoy! You are not the best looking, there are men here, that are thousand times more attractive than you!”

“Oooh, so you’re not denying that you’re into guys? Fuck me, Gryffindork golden boy is queer, hehehe.”

“Shut up you fucktard, I wouldn’t fuck you even if you would be the last guy on earth! You’re not my type!”

“I’m everybody’s type!” he smirks.

Harry just rolled his eyes, honestly what can you say to that? “Sooo, what is your type if not blond perfection?”

“Leave it be Malfoy! It’s not what I came to discuss with you here!”

“But I want to discuss that! Tell me or I’m leaving.”

“You’re bluffing, you’re too curious to leave without finding out what I wanted!”

“Bye Potter”

_ FUCK!  _ “Okay, okay you little prick! My type is someone intelligent, mature, dark haired…. That’s all I’m gonna say!”

“Hmm, dark, smart, older… you have a specific person in mind. Have you?!”

“Leave it beeee!”

“Okay, okay don’t get your panties in a twist! You don’t have to tell me, I’ll figure it out by myself. So what do you want to talk about?”

_ Should I trust him? What other option do I have? Where is the famous Gryffindor courage when you need it? Okay, okay… here we go, deep breath… _ Harry starts to talk and tells him everything, how he found Regulus’ portrait, how it made him doubt all he knew about the Light side, how he went through the old books, even how he agrees with most of the views presented by Riddle in his political campaign.

“Wow Potter, what did the Mudblood and Weasel think about this?”

“I didn’t say anything to them, you are the first person to hear this. I don’t think they would understand, Ron’s family worships Dumbledore, they always follow what he says. And Hermione… she, she is a Muggleborn and I don’t know, I think she would be against everything I said just because it was brought up by the Dark, she really really hates you Purebloods.”

Draco’s chin almost hits the floor.  _ He looks like a fish out of the water, hehe. _ “You really are not as blind as I thought Potter. What do you want from me?”

“I, I want you to help me understand, to be honest with me. I need someone who is not Dumbledore’s pet. I’m lost, I have all this information, but most of it is from old books or a death eater’s portrait. I don’t know what to believe. I wanted to go to Gringotts and talk to the goblins, but I was not allowed to go to the Alley, because it was “too dangerous” for me.” he rolls his eyes.

“To Gringotts? Why don’t you go during next Hogsmeade weekend?”

“How will I get to London?”

“London? Why would you need to go to London? There is an entrance to the Gringotts in Hogsmeade, actually in most of the larger wizarding communities. You just need to turn left behind Zonko’s and you’ll find it.”

Harry was just staring.  _ How did I not think of this sooner? If the Gringotts is a bank that serves most of the wizarding population, it must have offices outside of Diagon alley!  _ Malfoy apparently thought the same thing. “How do you not know this? Every child knows this! Especially those with inheritance like yours, how do you get to your funds?”

“Inheritance like mine? I have just one small vault and I don’t even have access to it. It was either Hagrid or Mrs. Weasley who brought me the money needed to buy school supplies!”

Malfoy is imitating fish out of the water again. “What do you mean one small vault! Not having access! You are the last Potter! They were one of the wealthiest families, of course not as wealthy as Malfoys, but you know. No one is better than us.”  _ Wealthy? Potters? What the fuck?  _ “You didn’t know? How is that possible?”

“I found out I was a wizard on my eleventh birthday, I’m living with my muggle relatives who hate all magical. Even though I think they might reconsider if they found out about the money.” 

“You need to go to the Gringotts, you must find out what happened to your money and how to get access to them!”

“Will you go with me?”

“Me? Can you imagine if you go to Hogsmeade with me instead of your two tails?”

“What if no one sees me? I can pretend I can’t go and sneak out. We can meet in Hogsmeade.” Malfoy did not look very convinced. “Look Malfoy, Draco, I’m, I’m sorry how I treated you. I should have accepted your friendship in the first year. Just the way you bragged and acted reminded me of my cousin who hates me and beat the crap out of me all my childhood. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have judged you so quickly.” 

For a while Draco just sits there, not saying anything, then obviously the curiosity won.

“Potter, I’m not saying we can be best mates, but I can agree on not being enemies at least when we are alone. I will go with you to the Gringotts” Draco says decidedly “meet me at 1:00 PM behind Zonko’s.”

“Really?! Awesome dude, thank you!”


	4. Detention

It is Friday before the Hogsmeade weekend and Harry is preparing for dinner. He has the detention with Snape right after, so he makes sure to look his best. Just in case.  _ In case of what? What do you think will happen? You think he will suddenly grab you and bend you over the table?  _ Harry berates himself. Even though he knows how improbable it is, he showers, shaves the important bits and carefully considers what to wear.  _ All my clothes are horrible! Fucking Dursleys! If I really have so much money as Draco says, I will go straight to nearest tailor and buy all they have. I may even ask Draco to come, the little diva would love playing dress up with me. _ At the end he decides to wear his school uniform, it is the only thing that fits and it would fit nicely into his some of the fantasies on how the detention could end.  _ Yeah and pigs suddenly started to fly today. _

He arrives at Snape’s office right on time and knocks. “Come in” Snape says from behind the door. Harry tries to get his hair to behave once more, but as always it is a lost battle. He takes a deep breath and enters. “Good evening, sir.”

“Evening, please close the door behind you and sit here” Snape points to the small table that is standing right next to him. Harry slowly walks to the table, expecting the older man to move away. Harry tries to inch in front of him, but he trips and in his effort to stay vertical he grabs the first thing he can - Severus.  _ Awkward! _

For a moment they stay frozen just staring at each other, then Severus suddenly jumps away, stumbling a little. He clear his throat and says: “Sit down Potter. I don’t want to spend the whole night here. You will help me with grading the first year’s essays.”

“You want me to help you? Why?” Snape is clearly annoyed that he has to explain, but does anyway. “As much it pains me to admit it, you’re the best at Defence. I don’t have patience to read what the little dunderheads wrote on difference between Verdimilious and Vermillious charms and their most practical uses. Trust me there is nothing else I would hate more, maybe except reading one of your Potions essays. But that is now professor Slughorn’s issue, isn’t it.”

Harry just stares  _ He really thinks I’m the best and wants me to help him?! I knew having him in the class where I’m not completely useless will warm him up a little. He did not even insult me...much. We all know I’m crap at Potions. _

Harry eagerly sits down, ready to tackle those forty something parchments Severus prepared for him. “This is a special feather Potter, it is charmed to change your illegible scrawl into my handwriting. Make sure to mark what is wrong and put comments into the margins.” “Yes sir!”

 

Almost an hour of the detention passed, but Harry got through only handful of the essays. “How can teachers do this all the time?” he mutters. “These kids are idiots who can not write properly and have no idea about the charms they’re suppose to compare. One of these little fuckers even managed to compare Verdimilious with Periculum charm instead of with Vermilious as he was suppose to! Idiot. Troll for you, you moron!” 

He hears a little chuckle from the other side of the office, he completely forgot that Snape is there with him! “I should say watch your language, but I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment. Plus your anger is kind of cute.”

“Cute! I’m not cute! Especially when I’m angry!”

“On the contrary Mr. Potter, I find your frustration very adorable and amusing, like an angry little kitten.” teases the older man.

_ Who is this man and what did he do to the real Snape? _ “Who are you and what did you do to Severus?!” Shocked silence follows his exclamation, probably because of the use of professor’s first name and then, the most wonderful sound he ever heard, Severus starts to laugh. Not just a small chuckle, but full on laugh. It was deep, rich and Harry would do anything to hear it again and again.

“You know, that I am a spy and one of my best skills is to not be seen when I don’t wish to be. This way I can overhear many interesting conversations. So it happened that one day after I delivered my report at the Headquarters, I overheard one between you and your godfathers. Can you guess what I heard?” Harry just mutely shakes his head, too shocked to say anything. 

“You were talking about me and the relationship between me and the so called Marauders. The Mutt was spewing his usual bullshit about how much fun was it to tease me and how I deserved it. But what surprised me was your reaction. You defended me and called them bullies and morons.”

_ I can remember the conversation! It was shortly after I came to the Grimmauld place for the first time. Severus stayed for lunch and Sirius constantly bothered him, until he stormed out. I thought he left and was very pissed about it because I believed, I wouldn’t see him until the school starts again. _

“After I heard your defence of me, your most hated professor, I had to reevaluate my opinion of you. I tried to focus on facts, on things I actually saw with my own eyes and not my memories of your father and what headmaster told me of your upbringing…”

“What did he say to you?” Harry interrupts sharply. “Before you came to Hogwarts he organized a meeting with all of the teaching staff. He talked about you and how we should treat you when you will come to our school, how we should be nice to you and make you feel welcome. “We wouldn’t want the great Harry Potter to switch our school for Durmstrang or Beauxbatons” said Severus in pretty good imitation of Dumbledore. “He made it sound as if you were a spoilt little rich kid, similar to your father when he got here.”

“What a pile of bullshit! Me and spoilt? Who would spoil me? The Dursleys hate me and treat me worse than a house elf!” Harry’s rant is interrupted by shocked look from Severus. “You were living with Petunia? Why?” 

“Pet… Wait, you know her name? How?” “Your mother was my friend growing up. I met her when we were around eight. She was kind, easygoing and beautiful. Tunie on the other hand was horrible. She was a very jealous child and envied Lily, especially her magic. She was constantly following us and belittling her every chance she’s got. But we sidetracked and it’s almost curfew, what I wanted to say was, I apologize for my behaviour towards you, I let my prejudice cloud my mind and it was not fair to you. I know one apology won’t erase the history we have between us, but it needed to be said.”

“Thank you, sir. And I just wanted to say, that I, I don’t hate you, I admire you a lot, I mean you’re a brilliant man” Harry’s face goes completely red “and even though you’re not the nicest to the students, it is clear you’re a great teacher. Just look at our Potions’ class. It is practically a miracle that neither me, nor Neville did not sustain any permanent injuries!”

Severus laughs again “You are right it is a miracle”  _ He looks so beautiful when he laughs. So much younger and relaxed. Maybe he would be willing to let me come again… _

“Sir?” Harry asks timidly “Yes?” “Would you mind telling me more about my mom? Everyone always talks about my father, how good he was at quidditch, what a prankster, but all I know about her is that I have her eyes. I would love to know her better, to talk to someone who knew her. I can even help you with grading the papers again!”

Severus is looking at him with a fond expression “Of course, I will tell you anything you want to know, I can even look for some photos I have of her and yes, I would appreciate any help with the mini morons’ essays” the professor says with familiar smirk on his face. “Great! Thank you so much! When can I come again? The same time next week?” “That would be acceptable and one more thing I must say... “Hmm?” 

“I have a certain image to paint outside of this room, my role as a spy for the Order heavily depends on how am I perceived by the children of the Dark Lord’s followers…”

“It’s okay sir, you don’t need to continue, I get it. You can not suddenly change your treatment of “the Saviour”” Harry rolls his eyes to show what exactly he thinks about the title. “Thank you...Harry” warmth spills in his belly upon hearing his name in that deep, sensual voice. “Now hurry up, back to your dorm, you don’t want to miss the curfew.”

 

Harry quickly gathers his stuff, the special quill Severus gave him inconspicuously stashed in his bag and runs out of the office. He doesn’t stop until he sees the picture of the Fat Lady. Only when he is safely in the privacy of his bed , he can think of what he learned today:

 

  1. __Sev does not hate me__
  2. _He used to be friends with my mom and is willing to share his memories_
  3. _He has the most perfect laugh_
  4. _There is a surprisingly muscled body under those heavy robes, body I would not mind exploring again and not only because I tripped._



 

 


	5. Hogsmeade meeting

Harry’s mood is not good this morning, he spent half of the night jerking off to the fantasies of Severus fucking him in front of the whole classroom and was rudely awaken after just 3 hours of sleep by Hermione calling them for breakfast.

“Ron, Harry wake up! We need to hurry! I want to leave for Hogsmeade as soon as possible. They have a big sale at Flourish and Blotts and I want to have a first pick”  _ Like I give a fuck about your stupid books, you bossy little bitch. _

“I’m not going to Hogsmeade today. I have a detention with Snape again.”

“What why? I thought you had one yesterday. Were you rude to him again? You should be more careful how you treat him. He is your professor and deserves your respect!”

Harry was getting ready to send her where the sun doesn’t shine, when Ron interrupted “Leave him be Hermione! As if it is not already hard enough that he can’t go with us, but must be stuck with the Greasy Git!”

_ Oh, such a hardship really. _ Harry just nods, glad he got out of it so easily.

He was suppose to meet with Draco at 1, so he went back to sleep. Waking up in decidedly better mood he slowly dressed and had a lunch on his own. He gets to Hogsmeade 10 minutes before agreed meeting time and waits hidden under his cloak, when he notices a familiar black figure strolling down the street.  _ Crap! What is he doing here? If Hermione and Ron will see him, they will know I lied. _ He instinctively grabs Snape’s arm, dragging him into a small alley next to Zonko’s. Severus pulls his wand, looking frantically around

“What is this? Reveal yourself” Harry only then realises that he is still wearing the invisibility cloak and quickly takes it down 

“I’m sorry professor, I did not mean to scare you! It’s just, Ron and Hermione can’t see you. They think I have a detention with you and if they’ll see you here they will know I lied.” Severus’ angry face slowly morphs into an amused one.

“Mr. Potter, why I am not surprised. Do tell, why did you lie to your best friends? Perhaps a date with a secret girlfriend?” Before Harry is able to stutter an answer, Draco shows up

“Potter! Here you are!”

“You have a date with my godson?!” Severus looks utterly dumbfounded.

“What? A date? Ewww!”

“No, of course not!” they yell simultaneously. After a few seconds Harry tries to explain “I do not have a date with Draco, even though our meeting is the reason why I lied to Ron and Hermione. I found out some stuff during the summer and wanted to go to have an inheritance test done. I was unable to go during summer, but Draco explained there is a branch of Gringotts here in Hogsmeade and agreed to go with me.”

Severus was looking at him suspiciously, probably wondering why to go with Draco instead of his friends, but in the end he just went with it.

“Okay boys, I won’t ask anymore right now, but we will talk about this later. And as I was informed I should not be seen in the village today, I decided to accompany you. Lets go.” Severus starts to walk and they don’t have any other option than to follow.

They stop in front of middle sized white building with gold carved doors. It is nowhere as impressive as the main building in Diagon alley, but it is decidedly fancier than the other buildings around. They walk through the door and suddenly appear in the great entrance hall of Gringotts bank in the Alley.  _ What? Awesome! I bloody loooove magic! _

Harry immediately starts towards one of the tellers who does not seems to be occupied, when a hand grabs him.

“What are you doing Potter?! You can not just go to them, they need to indicate you may approach! Did you always sleep during the History of magic?” Draco hisses into his ear. The answer is apparently clear from Harry’s expression because Draco just rolls his eyes and continues “Ugh! Fine, if you do not want to insult them just let me do the talking okay?” Harry nods and they wait for one of the tellers to acknowledge them. 

After few more moments one of the goblins approaches them. “Good afternoon, welcome in the Gringotts Wizarding Bank. How may I help you?”

“Heir Potter would like to speak to his family teller. Me and professor Snape will accompany him.” says Draco in his most prissy, I am a Malfoy and you must obey me voice, hoping the goblin won’t ask further questions.

“Of course, if you could follow me to one of the private offices, I will notify my colleague.”

The goblin led them through long, richly furnished corridor until they reached a heavy wooden door. “Please wait a second, I will notify him of your presence.” he said and disappeared behind the door. The door opened within few seconds and they were led into the office.

 

“Good afternoon Mr. Potter” says a goblin sitting behind large oak table full of documents and leather books. “My name is Gorkrus, I’m the personal bank teller for Potter family for almost hundred years. I’m very pleased you finally came, as I stated in my letters we need to look at the state of your books and I need to give you your Lordship rings, so you may take your place in Wizengamot or appoint a proxy.”

“Wizengamot? Letters? I did not receive any letters from Gringotts, sir.” Harry asked confused.

“How is that possible? We sent at least 15 in addition to the annual report on balance of your accounts. We started right after you were legally considered an adult when you were chosen for the Triwizard tournament. As only adults may enter the tournament and you were chosen, you were recognized by magic as one, even though you are not 17 years of age. At that point you had access to your full inheritance and your rights as a Lord Potter. Your guardian was supposed to bring you to us, so we may give you your rings and keys to your vaults. Where is the Headmaster Dumbledore anyway? Should we wait for him?”

“What has Dumbledore to do with this?” Severus speaks for the first time. “He is Lord Potter’s magical guardian.”

“No, he is not. His magical guardian is his grandmother, it was stated in both Lili’s and James’ will, there was nothing mentioned of Dumbledore. I was present when the wills were opened.”

“That is true Lord Prince, however after Lady Euphemia Potter died, just few months after the death of her son, the guardianship was assigned to the headmaster.”

“May we see the will?” Severus asked sharply, finding the situation very suspicious. He did not know, that Lady Potter died, he thought she is living on the continent with Harry, trying to keep him from the adoring masses. 

“I’m afraid, that it is not possible, the will was sealed by Wizengamot as per Dumbledore’s request.”

“What? How can he do that! He can not forbid me to see the will of my own Grandmother! I want to see it!” Harry started to rant, but was interrupted by Severus.

“Why did you call me Lord Prince?” interrupts Snape “That is my grandfather, my mother was disowned when she married my father, I have no claim to that title.”

“Lord Prince, I don’t know how to say this however your grandfather died three years ago, he left you everything including his title… Let me call your personal teller. He has all the documents.” Gorkrus rings a little bell and a younger goblin enters the office. “We need the Prince family personal teller to join us, please call him and have him bring all the materials regarding the will of previous Lord Prince.”

 

“It may take a while, therefore we can talk about Lady Potter’s will first, if you please. If you would like to unseal it, you need to plead your case in front of Wizengamot. The reason for sealing the will was that Dumbledore wanted to keep your place of stay a secret. The Dark Lord was vanquished, however lot of his followers were still free” his little beady eyes obviously went first to Draco then Severus. Harry just glared at him.

“Okay, so you’re telling me, that Dumbledore controlled my inheritance all this years, but that ended 2 years ago, when I was forced to participate in the Tournament and he was supposed to bring me here to get access to my vaults. What did you do when it did not happen?” Harry’s tone accusatory.

The goblin puffed up like an angry pigeon “As I mentioned, we send you several summons, we also contacted your guardian asking him to bring you as soon as possible. First he said you are still recovering from the injuries you sustained in the tournament, then you couldn’t come because you were focusing on your studies and so on.”  _ That old bastard! I bet if I did not come here on my own he would not tell me at all. _ Sudden thought occurred to him

“Tell me Gorkrus, what would happen with my inheritance if I died without claiming it?”

“In case you would die without an heir or a will, your inheritance would go to your closest family member, as you are the last Potter and have no wizarding relatives, your seats would be merged with the seats of the last known magical guardian and your inheritance would go to your muggle relatives.” the ringing silence following his statement is interrupted by enraged Draco

“I bet that was his plan all along! He hoped you will die fighting Dark Lord and he would get everything, I seriously doubt he would allow the Potter fortune to go to your mudb… ehm… muggle relatives.”  _ Yeah, that seems like the obvious answer, he could get my medical records and statements from the Order confirming that my relatives were abusing me and would not have to share a Knut! _

“My lord, from what I’m hearing here it seems that the headmaster neglected his duties as your guardian. May I advise you next course of action? You should claim your titles and inheritance and you can sue him, you can bring him in front of Wizengamot and get him arrested. This was basically a conscious line theft and those are taken very seriously. I can assure you that our bank and the whole goblin nation will do anything to help you get the justice. We were trying to find something on Dumbledore for a long time, but he is very clever and leaves no trail. Also it is because of the laws he implemented, goblins are no longer equal to wizards.”

“I don’t think we can bring him to the court” says Severus. Harry takes a breath to argue, but the older man interrupts him “at least not yet. The evidence we have is not strong enough to withstand his opposition and don’t forget the power he holds in Wizengamot, he is the Chief Warlock for fifteen years, he has many allies. But I think claiming your titles is a good first step, however we need to make sure it does not get out.”

“I can assure you, that no information will be shared by the Gringotts, we can even hide this from Dumbledore as well. At least for few months. The claiming of the title is not a long ceremony, you will take an Inheritance test to prove you have the right to claim the title and I will then present you with the Lord ring. The final step is a formal introduction at Wizengamot, but that can wait. You will have full access to your vaults and your seats will be blocked right after you claim the ring.”


	6. Who am I?

“The inheritance test is nothing complicated, you will simply use this dagger to cut your finger and let three drops of blood fall onto this parchment. The parchment will show not only your full name, but will also list your parents, what titles you hold and what vaults you have, but also if there is any magical contracts, if you have any creature inheritance and so on.”

_ Okay, deep breath Harry. Soon you will know how much you’re worth. _ He was suddenly very nervous , only the calming presence of Draco and Severus allowed him to take the dagger into his shaky hand and prick a finger. He squeezed three drops onto the parchment and for few seconds nothing happened. Then letters started to show, reminding him of Tom Riddle’s diary from his second year:

 

**Name:** _ Harry James Potter _

**Birth name:** _ Hadrian Thomas Lucius Gaunt Malfoy Riddle _

**Birth date:** _ 21, July 1990 _

 

**Parents:** _ Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, Thomas Marvolo Gaunt Riddle _

**Siblings** : _Draco Lucius Marvolo Gaunt Malfoy Riddle (older twin)_

**Blood adoption:** _ James Fleamont Potter (31, July 1990), Lily Potter neé Evans (31, July 1990), Sirius Orion Black (15, October 1990) _

 

**Titles:**

  * _Lord Potter_
  * _Lord Black_
  * _Lord Gryffindor_
  * _Heir Gaunt_
  * _Scion Peverell_
  * _Scion Slytherin_
  * _Scion Malfoy_



 

**Vaults:** _ 2, 3, 45, 46, 57, 73, 98, 124 (for full list please see Appendix 1) _

**Properties:** _ Castle Potter, Castle Black, Grimmauld place 12, Chateu Appony (for full list please see Appendix 2) _

 

**Creature inheritance:**

  * _¼ veela_
  * _⅛ lamia_
  * _⅛ jengu_



 

**Special skills:**

  * _Elemental magic (element water) - blocked by Albus Dumbledore_
  * _Metamorphagi - blocked by Albus Dumbledore_
  * _Veela’s power of seduction_
  * _Veela’s ability to sense a mate - blocked by Albus Dumbledore_
  * _Affinity for dark arts - blocked by Albus Dumbledore_



 

**Others:**

  * _Compulsion to follow Albus Dumbledore, Hermione Granger, the Weasley family - placed by Albus Dumbledore_
  * _Tracking charm - placed by Albus Dumbledore_
  * _Hate compulsion towards Slytherins, Severus Snape, Lord Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy and dark arts - placed by Albus Dumbledore, partially broken_
  * _Several visage altering spells - placed by Albus Dumbledore_
  * _Obedience compulsion towards Dursley family, Albus Dumbledore, Hermione Granger, the Weasley family - placed by Albus Dumbledore, partially broken_
  * _Attraction spell to Ginevra Molly Weasley  - placed by Albus Dumbledore_
  * _Other compulsions placed by Hermione Granger, Molly Weasley, Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody_



  
  


Harry’s vision starts to swim and black spots appear in from of his eyes. He feels like the walls are closing on him and it is suddenly impossible to breath. Strong hands grab him and pull him into Severus’ lap. “Calm down sweetheart, shh, listen to my heartbeat, follow my breathing. Shh, angel, shh. Everything is gonna be alright, we will take care of you, please calm down” The steady murmur of calming words continued until he was able to take a breath again.

However when the panic attack subsided, he couldn’t help but cry. It was not a pretty cry like on TV, instead he wailed like banshee, his face blotchy red, snot running from his nose… Severus starts the calming murmur again “Shh, breathe Harry, calm down, everything will be alright, I’m here for you, Draco is here for you. Here is a hankerchief. Everything will be fine…”  _ Fine? How can anything be fine ever again? My whole life was a lie! My friends are not my real friends and the people I hate are actually my family. I had a family. Parents and even a brother! Everything was taken from me because of greed of one man!  _ Harry no longer doubted that Albus too-many-fucking-names Dumbledore was the reason why.  _ I will kill him! No, not kill him. I will make him suffer first. I will take away all he loves, every joy he has in life until he will wish for Death to come. And even then I will not let him die! _

 

His thoughts were interrupted by banging from the corridor. “You can not go there!” was heard right before the oak door banged open and in stormed Lucius Malfoy. “Draco, sweetheart, are you alright?!” Lucius grabbed Draco in obvious panic and started checking him for injuries. “I’m fine, I’m fine Papa, it’s not me, it’s Harry… I mean Hadrian. Harry is Hadrian! We found him!”

“Har..Hadrian? Harry is Hadrian?” disbelief and shock clear on his face. “Yes, it’s him! We just did an inheritance test, look!” Draco hands him the parchment. The silence in the room is deafening, when suddenly a small sob is heard. “My Hadrian, my baby” cries Lucius and timidly opens his arms to Harry. Harry does not hesitate, jumps out of Severus’ lap and runs to embrace his crying parent. They both cry and hug so hard you can hear bones creaking. “My baby, my Haddy. I can not believe it. I looked for you everywhere, my little angel…” Lucius repeats over and over again, kissing him wherever he can reach.

They calm down a little and collapse down on the nearest chair. Lucius pulls Harry into his lap, not willing to let him go for even a second. Harry doesn't mind a bit. He feels like Lucius’ embrace is the safest place on earth right now.

“Lucius, Fath…” Harry starts not knowing how to address him. “Please call me Papa angel. I always wanted to hear the word Papa out of your mouth.” “Papa” smiles Harry “please tell me what happened? How is it possible that I am your Hadrian?”

“I don’t know how my Haddy became Harry Potter, but I can tell you how we lost you. You know, I married Draco’s mom when I left Hogwarts. It was expected from me as the heir of house Malfoy to marry a woman of equal status. Narcissa is the best wife and mother a man can ask for, however I never loved her romantically. She is my friend and confidant, but I can’t love her, for she is not my mate. I’m half veela and veelas can love only one person, their mate. I met my mate few years after I married Narcissa. It was like a strike of a lightning bolt. He was the most perfect being in the universe. Handsome, charming and intelligent and I couldn’t resist him” a bright blush appears on his face. Lucius throws an insecure look Draco’s way, unwilling to hurt him with his words about not being in love with his mother. Draco immediately understands his father’s dilemma and sits on arm of their chair. “Don’t worry Papa, I know you could not resist the pull of a mate.” he reassures.

Lucius smiles gratefully and hugs him with the arm not holding Harry. “Thank you sweetheart. I bonded to your father and got pregnant not long after. The day you two were born was the happiest in my life.” Draco suddenly realizes what the test said, he was Harry’s twin and that means…

”Papa! Does it mean that Mama is not my mother? Why didn’t you tell me?!” he asks with tears in his eyes, so Lucius hurries to reassure him

“Narcissa will always be your mother sweetheart, she can not have children, but she loved you from the moment you were born, both of you. She will always love you and she is and will be your Mama even though she did not birth you. Please don’t cry baby, we had to keep your father a secret so people won’t try to hurt you, I was so afraid they will take you too. You were the only thing that kept me going after I lost your father and brother” silent tears are streaming down their faces, even Harry could not keep from crying because of the pain visible on faces of his Papa and brother.

They keep crying and hugging until gentle voice interrupts the silence: “Lucius, maybe we can call for more tea and then you can finish explaining how we lost our Haddy.” Harry completely forgot that they are not alone, he quickly scanned the room, but the goblins were gone, only Severus was with them sitting nearby and offering them fresh handkerchieves.

“Thank you my friend, tea would be lovely right now.” agrees Lucius and Severus silently stands up and goes to the door ordering more tea. He does not allow the goblins back to the room, just takes the fresh tray and puts it down on one of the tables near the still hugging trio.

 

Even though Harry already knows, he wants to hear it from his Papa’s mouth: “Papa? Please tell us who is our father? Why would people want to hurt us because of him?”

“Your father was amazing, he was very powerful wizard and a skilled politician. He strived to make our world a better place for all magical being, no matter their origin. His name is Thomas Marvolo Riddle, Lord Slytherin and Gaunt…” he cautiously looks at Harry before he continues “but you know him under different name Lord Voldemort, our Dark Lord.”

Lucius closes his eyes, waiting on their reaction to his revelation, suddenly afraid that Haddy will refuse him, will abandon him and he will not see his little angel again. He does not even realize he closed his eyes and is squeezing his children to himself until a they both hug him and his youngest says: 

“It is okay Papa, I knew. I saw it on the test and I knew his real name, don’t be afraid I won’t leave you again.” Harry reassures, correctly sensing the reason behind his parent’s obvious distress. Lucius looks at him, but doesn’t release his death grip on them both so Draco tries to reassure him further: 

“I talked to Haddy before we came here. He is no longer ignorant follower of Dumbledore. He will be willing to listen to your side of the story.”

 

Lucius takes a deep breath and explains what happened when they were born and how his love became to be known as Lord Voldemort. He talks about the horrible night when they took Haddy to St. Mungos because of a light fewer, where he was stolen. He talks about how Tom went half mad from grief and went after Dumbledore, convinced that he was the one who took their baby, how he returned after few months changed, distant and blood thirsty. How they found out about the prophecy that if he won’t kill the Potter child, he will lose his family and he will be forever alone, how he never returned and the wizarding world celebrated his death while Lucius was sitting alone in the Manor, holding his last light, his little dragon.

“If it weren’t for Draco, I would kill myself that night. He was the only thing worth living for.” Lucius admits quietly.


	7. Hadrian Thomas Lucius Gaunt Malfoy Riddle

They are sitting together, hugging and thinking about the implication of what they learned when Severus kneels in front of them, gently taking his friend’s hand into his:

“Lucius, it is almost five. The boys will need to return to the school soon.” he can see panic rising in Lucius’ eyes, his grip on his sons getting tighter, so he quickly continues: “I know you are afraid, but I promise you, swear on my magic that I will do anything to protect them. I will make sure they’re okay and I will make sure to give them a lot of detention” he smiles “so they can come to my quarters and use the Floo to get to the Manor, I will make sure you will see them very soon. But before we leave, we must talk to the goblins. Hadrian has many compulsions on him. I am even surprised that he lets you hold him as he is because of the hate compulsions. He needs to be cleaned of them before he leaves.”

 

The goblins return and take Harry to see their healer to be cleaned from the compulsions and charms that were put on him. An elder looking goblin sits next to Severus. “Lord Prince, my name is Silvercrux, I am the personal teller of the Prince family. I learned from my colleague, that you were unaware of your grandfather’s death and your inheritance.”

“That is true, how come I was not informed?” 

“Headmaster Dumbledore responded to the summons we sent you and was present at the will reading. He presented this letter of attorney that established him as your proxy, he claimed that you did not want to have anything to do with your grandfather or the inheritance due to the schism between your mother and her family. He is currently holding your seats in Wizengamot as a proxy.” Silvercrux explains showing the appropriate documentation.

“This is a fake, a very good one, but a fake. I never knew my grandfather died, nor did I give Dumbledore the power to act in my name.”

“Thank you for confirmation, Gorkrus mentioned your surprise when you learned of your Lord’s death, during the previous hour we launched an investigation on Albus Dumbledore. The preliminary results show that this document was not correctly verified by one of our human employees. Please accept our apology on behalf of the Gringotts wizarding bank and the goblin nation, we ask you to allow us full audit on your accounts. We would like to find as many evidence on Dumbledore as possible and have him tried under goblin law. Of course it would be free of charge.”

The Potions master agrees “Yes, being charged under goblin law will make it harder for him to weasel out, he still holds too much power in the Ministry and Wizengamot.”

“Please make sure the information that will be collected are not released yet” Lucius asks “I believe we need to include also his affairs regarding my son into account and I don’t want him to know about it before I am able to take Hadrian to safety first.”

“Understood, Lord Prince will you be able to stay here little bit longer, so I can give you your Lordship ring and all relevant documentation?” asks the goblin. “I can not stay for too long, I need to be at Hogwarts in time for dinner, but I will be available tomorrow. I would also like to have updates on progress of the audit, however as we found out the letters sent to the school are being intercepted by the old fool. Let’s agree I will come back tomorrow to discuss your discoveries, also here is the password to the Floo in my personal rooms. Contact me in case of emergency.”

“Thank you my Lord. I will leave now to continue the investigation. May your gold always flow.” with that the goblin he bows and leaves the room.

 

“Papa?” Draco interrupts the remaining silence.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“What if Haddy won’t love me? I always dreamed that we will find him and he will be my best friend, the missing piece… But, we are not friends, he doesn't like me. I tried to be his friend but he picked Weasley instead.” he murmurs sadly.

“Dragon, I’m certain he will love you, he did not pick that blood traitor over you, he was compelled to hate you, hate us all.”

“What your Papa is saying is true Godson” Severus continues “don’t you worry. I know he will like you. Merlin, I believe he likes you even now, despite the compulsions. You are always bickering like siblings, but there is no true hate. I noticed, that most or your fights are caused by Weasley, not Haddy nor you. Just wait and you will see. I can’t wait to see how he truly looks like. When you two were babies no one could tell you apart.”

“I could!” Lucius exclaims “I could and so could your father, don’t you tell him lies Sev! Maybe if you would look up from your books sometimes you would be able to do it too” the friendly bickering continues until the doors open and in walks a procession of goblins. All three men raise from their couch and expectantly await the new Harry Potter.

 

The first thing Harry notices when he wakes up from the sleep he was put into for the ritual, is that he does not have any glasses on and despite that he can see perfectly.  _ Yes! Finally no more stupid, ugly glasses. I hated them so much! I’m wondering what else did change. _

“May I have a mirror please?” he asks the nearest goblin. “Of course Lord Black” he helps him to stand and leads him to the other side of the room where a floor length mirror awaits.

Hadrian is speechless, he expected his appearance to change, but still could not believe that it is him. _ I look like Draco! Just… CRAP still short! This is not fair! Are not twins suppose to be exactly the same? I am certainly shorter than him, fucking Dursleys, I’m sure if they fed me properly I would be as tall as him.  _ Other than the the height, the only difference is in their hair. Instead of having short hair as Draco, Haddy has waist long hair as their Papa. The color, texture and everything else was the same. He decided then and there that he won’t cut it, he will keep them long to remind him of his Papa, even if it made him look little bit girlish.  _ If I had a curly hair, I would look like Luna, hehe. Wait, she really looks a lot like a Malfoy! What if we are related?! That would be so amazing! I need to ask Draco later. _

“Congratulations Lord Black” Gorkrus interrupts his musings “If you would follow me back, I can finalize the Lordship transfer and give you your rings.

“Thank you, please lead the way Gorkrus.”

 

Hadrian is very excited, he can not wait till his family and Severus will see his new self. If he could, he would run the whole way to the room where they are, but he knows the goblins would be offended. He needs to keep calm, cold front as he saw his Papa and brother do in Diagon or on the World Cup.

When he finally walks into the room, they can not keep their pureblood masks in place, their joy is apparent.

“Oh my god! My angel, how beautiful you are!” exclaims Lucius pulling Haddy into tight embrace, just  to be elbowed by Draco who also wants a turn with his brother:

“Little Haddy, I thought you will be my exact copy! Oh, how small and cute you are, at least it is apparent on the first sight who is the older brother” laughs Draco.

“I am not small and cute!” argues Haddy, despite stamping his leg like a three years old at the same time. Everybody just laughs.

“Don’t worry little brother, I will protect you from all bad things. I will even lend you Crabbe and Goyle as bodyguards if you want to!”

That stops him from further ranting “Really? You want to take care of me?”

“Of course I want to my sweet Haddy” he hugs him, picking him from the ground at the same time “that’s what big brothers do!”

“Oh Drake, thank you!” Harry does not know how to show his happiness at the offer, so he just hugs Draco with all his might, placing his legs around his brother’s hips and covering him with kisses. “No one ever really cared about me, my family hates me and my friends are all liars.” Lucius and Severus suddenly appear next to them.

“Your family does not hate you, angel. We are your family and we love you very very much” Lucius starts. “And do not believe that all your friends are liars, think of Mr. Longbottom, Ms. Lovegood or those Demon twins. I know they love you and they are no liars for sure.” Severus reassures him too.

They are still hugging when the goblin teller clears his throat “If you would allow we could now proceed with presenting of the rings.” Draco goes to let him down, but Haddy clings to him like a koala, so he just sits with him in his lap.

“Lord Black, please allow me to present you with your rings” Five rings were sitting in a black velvet box. “These are your Lordship rings” explains Lucius pointing at the three bigger rings on the right side. “The black one is obviously for the Black lordship, blue is for Potter and the red one is for Gryffindor. These are the rings you gain by your adoption into Potter family and from Sirius Black. The smaller black one is for the heir of Gaunts, the last branch of Slytherin bloodline you have from your father and as well the Peverells as they are descendants of Salazar Slytherin too. Draconis as the elder twin is the heir Malfoy and Slytherin. He will get his rings when he reaches his seventeenth birthday. If you put all of them on your right hand, they will merge into one ring. It will not be visible to anyone who is not of blood unless you wish them to see. Also they have very strong protective charms on them. No one will be able to play tricks with your mind, poison you etc. You can use the heir ring to call for the holder of the Lord ring. I hold the rings of your father, so if you’re in danger just touch the ring and think of me, I will sense it and apparate straight to you.”

“Is it how you knew that Draco was upset today? He did call you here, didn’t he?”

“Draco does not have his rings yet, so he used a necklace I gave him for this purpose. However now when you mention it I don’t see a reason why Draco should not get his rings as well today. Malfoys usually wait until they reach their maturity, but we can make him legally adult now and he can get them as well. We wouldn’t want him feel left out today right?” smirks Lucius. It does not take long before Draco also has his heirship rings. The Slytherin one is silver with green and black snake on it, while the one for Malfoy heir is purple with silver moon and stars.

“There is one more thing to take care of” Severus says “Haddy can not go back to the castle looking like his true self, it would put him at risk. Master goblin, I know that you have some artifacts that can change one’s appearance and not being detected by any wards or spells.”

“But of course Lord Prince, we have that. Would you prefer a ring, bracelet or a necklace?”

“I think it is up to the young lord to pick. Haddy which one do you prefer?”

“Hmm, rings can interfere during quidditch and necklaces can slip of. I think a bracelet is the safest. Could you charm it so only I can take it off?”

“Of course, it will be also invisible to anyone but you, which design would you prefer?” They all looked through the bracelets the goblin had to offer and agreed on a snake eating its own tail. “It will be hundred galleons, which vault should we use?” Lucius wanted to say his own, but got interrupted by Severus “Please take it from my private vault, it will be my gift to Haddy to celebrate the day when he found his family and it is a part of my promise to keep him safe.” he smiles gently at the smaller twin.

 

While the boys are sitting close together admiring their rings, the goblin teller leans to Lucius: “If you would stay a little bit longer my Lord, I believe we need to discuss some disturbing things we’ve discovered during your son’s cleanse. I believe it would be better to discuss in private, without young ears present.” Lucius just exchanges worried looks with Severus who obviously heard every word and turns to his two angels.

“Draco, Haddy. It’s getting quite late, you better go now if you want to return before the dinner starts.” they both go to him for hugs and kisses. Promises of seeing each other soon and taking care of each other are exchanged and the boys are led by a younger goblin to the exit for Hogsmeade.

  
  


“Okay, out with it what is it you need to tell me?” Lucius starts as soon as his sons are out of the room.

“I believe it would be better discussed in private, if Lord Prince would kindly…”

“No! I won’t leave, I need to know what is going on if I am to protect him!” Severus is ready to fight, he needs to know what is wrong with the boy. He was always weirdly protective of the boy, even if he did not want to admit it even to himself, seeing him now all blond, small and fragile increased the feeling tenfold.

“Of course you may stay Sev.” Lucius reassures him and turns to Gorkrus “Lord Prince will remain here. Please tell us what you found out.” 

The goblin teller concedes and starts explaining why he asked them to stay “Part of the purging ritual we performed on Lord Black is checking his health condition and medical history. It is to ensure that the person is able to withstand the ritual and there are no medical risks. Let me assure you that your son is healthy, even though he is on verge of malnutrition. We strongly recommend him a strict diet and regular nutrition potions. What caused a deep concern was his medical history. It shows unprecedented amount of sustained injuries, usually found only with victims of long term domestic abuse.”

“Abuse?! You are telling me those bastards abused my son?!” Lucius’ was feeling almost hysterical. Severus pulled him into an embrace in an attempt to calm him down and asked Gorkus for the document containing Haddy’s medical history. They were handed a stack of documents almost two fingers thick and started to read together. They did not get even to the end of first page and Lucius was already crying and Sev had to push down the bile that rose into his throat.

“Shhh, shh Luc. We will find them, we will find those people who hurt him and we WILL make them pay. They will be tortured for years without the reprieve of death. I promise you! Shh. He is safe now, he is healthy. I will make sure he eats properly and will personally feed him nutrition potions every single day. We got him back, he is safe.” he repeats over and over again until Lucius calms down. The crying and hysterics were slowly replaced by cold mask of pure fury and dangerous look in his eyes. If Sev did not know him, he would think Lucius is some deranged sociopath or a serial killer.

“They will pay, they will pay for taking him, for hurting him! He will never, NEVER feel mistreated or in pain again in his life. I will make sure that he will be the most loved and spoilt being on Earth. Promise me Severus! Promise you will help me!”

“I do, I promise Luc” Severus tries to reassure him “I will do all I can to ensure he will know nothing else just happiness, I  will make sure he is spoilt and loved as much as I can. I swear.” The deranged look slowly disappears from Lucius’ face, hidden again behind the emotionless masks of a pureblood.


	8. Interhouse unity

When the brothers get back to the Hogsmeade, most of the student are already back at school. Despite that, Haddy stays hidden under the cloak, Draco quietly walking beside him. When they get out of the village and are nearing the Shrieking Shack, Draco whispers: “Haddy we need to talk before we get back to school. Let’s go near to the Shack, we can hide in the woods so no one sees you.” Harry agrees and they inconspicuously change the direction away from Hogwarts.

When they get to the Shack, Haddy says; “You know we could go inside, no one will hear us there for sure”

“Are you crazy?! It is the most haunted place in the whole Britain!” Haddy can not help himself, he must laugh at the scared expression on the face of his “big” brother.

“Hehe, you moron you really believe that story? There is nothing scary in there, no ghosts. Just old dusty furniture and a tunnel back to school. We could shorten our way that way. The Shack was built when Remus Lupin was at school and they needed to put him somewhere when he transformed during the full moon. It was him, not ghosts people heard.”

“How do you know that?”

“I was there in our third year, when they almost caught Sirius. Don’t worry, follow me.”

 

They got into the Shack without any issues.  _ I would think the old goat applied at least some charms to protect this way into the castle. He certainly thinks he is the only one except the Marauders and Sev who knows about this tunnel. _

“Soooo, what did you want to talk about big bro?” Draco is looking around the Shack, expression of disgust on his face, probably because of the dirt and dust everywhere. He can not imagine Draco or their Papa being is such a dirty room before. He casts quick dust removing charm he learned from Mrs. Weasley during one of her cleaning sprees in fourth year. Draco looks at him gratefully and sits on a bed, pulling Haddy into is lap.

“I wanted to talk about what we are going to be doing when we’re are back at school. I can not imagine I can treat you the same way I did before. You are my little twin, even if I did not remember having you with me, I always felt this little empty space inside me. You’re my other half, I need you.” Draco admits quietly.

“We don’t have to be separated, yes we’re in different houses, but the Snakes have most of their classes with us anyway. We will spend the whole day together, we will just sleep in different rooms and if you know how to convince your classmates, I can even sneak into the Slytherin dorms and sleep with you.” Haddy tries to reassure him.

“But what will people think? The Gryffindor golden boy and Slytherin Ice prince can not be mates suddenly!”

“Let them think what they want! I don’t give a fuck what they think. There are very few people whose opinion is important to me: you, Papa, Sev, Luna, Neville and the Weasley twins. That’s all. The others may kiss my ass!”

“I would kill anyone who tries to touch your cute little butt!” laughs Draco. “It belongs to me and your mysterious crush a.k.a. Severus”

“How? How did you find out?” Haddy tries to scramble of his lap, but Draco won’t allow it.

“Oh, sweet little Hadrian. You need to learn one thing if this is suppose to work. Repeat after me: My big brother knows everything, he always knows best and I should always listen to him” they both start to laugh at that, falling on the bed unable to laugh and stay vertical at the same time.

“Promise you won’t tell anyone?”

“Don’t you worry my sweet Haddy, I won’t. Your secret is safe with me. Everybody will find out anyway.”

“What? How?” Haddy was suddenly very nervous. He doesn’t mind his brother knowing, but he doesn’t want to face his schoolmates, especially Ron when they find out.

“When a veela turns seventeen and meets his mate, he can not resist, he will be pulled to him, no matter who is around. It is an instinct.”

“Ah, okay so you don’t mean now. I thought I was being obvious.” Draco laughs on how cute and naive his little brother is “You are, but only those who know you can guess and let me tell you I am hundred percent sure, that Sev wants you too. It was clear from how he was holding you today, from the way his eyes always go to you if you are in the same room.”

“Really? You mean it? I can not imagine him wanting me back. Look at him, he is so handsome and smart… Did you know he is the youngest person to get his mastery? And he even has two of them! And I, I am…”

“You are what little brother? Beautiful? Smart? Kind? You could have anyone in the world. Severus would be very lucky to have you.” Draco says, hugging Haddy as close as possible.

For a while, they just lay there both lost in their own heads until Hadrian finds the courage to ask the most important question: “Draco?” he starts quietly. Draco just gives a small hum indicating he is listening. “How is our Papa? Is he a good parent?”

“Good? Our Papa is the best! He might seem cold to a stranger, but that is just a mask he shows the world. It is something all purebloods are taught from a very young age. But when we are alone, or with just friends he is the most loving person in the world. I’m sure he would do anything for us or father, even Mama. I know it might sound weird, but he is … he is the most important person in the world for me, my best friend and confidant. When I heard today he wanted to kill himself...” Draco can’t continue, still too shocked and upset by the revelation. 

Haddy doesn’t like to see him so sad, so he tries to distract him by his next question: “And he never hit you? Never took things that belong to you?”

“Hit me? He would never! I mean he spanked me once when I was around seven, but I think it hurt him more than me. And to be honest, he had a good reason. We went to the Diagon alley and I ran away, I wanted to go to look into the Quidditch store, but he was taking too long at Borgin and Burkes, so I sneaked away and got myself almost kidnapped by this crazy hag. I never saw him so angry before, he was completely white and, and I believe that the curse he used on her actually killed her” Draco finishes in whisper.

“But I swear you have no reason to be afraid of him, he is the best Papa in the world. Why are you asking Haddy? Weren’t the muggles that raised you nice?”

“No, they were not nice, not nice at all. They hated all magical and they hated me. I never had anything of my own, I had to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs and I had a long list of chores to complete every day. When I did not finish them on time, or perfectly enough, or when my uncle or cousin were in a mood, I got beaten.” he confesses. It is hard to talk about it with someone, he never told anyone. Not even to Ron and Hermione. He tried once to confess to nurse at primary school, but she called Uncle Vernon and asked for an explanation. His uncle was able to convince her that Haddy is a liar and the beating he got when they got home was the worst ever, he was left in his cupboard for four days afterwards, alone with no food or access to the toilet. He truly believed he would die there.

Draco is at loss on what to say, how to comfort his little brother, so he quickly gathers him in his arms and hugs him as hard as he can “I’m so sorry Haddy, so sorry you had to live like that. But I promise you, swear to you that I will do anything to keep them from you. You won’t have to see them ever again and I will get you your revenge, they will regret the day they first saw you. I will not allow anyone to hurt you!” Haddy just nods, he does not believe that Draco can keep the Dursleys from him yet, after all they are brothers just for few hours, but Draco’s words give him something he did not feel for a very long time - hope.

Hope for better life with a loving family.

 

“We should leave and go back to school.”

“I don’t want to! I want to stay here with you, what if I wake up tomorrow and find out that everything I found out was just a dream?”

“All you need to do is just look at your hand, you will see the ring and the bracelet and you will know. And if that won’t work, you will come to me, understood?” Haddy nods, little reassured. He quickly pulls his brother for a hug and leads them through the tunnel under the Whomping willow. They make it in just before the dinner starts so Draco goes in first to join his Slytherin mates. Haddy hides in an alcove in the entrance hall, takes off the invisibility cloak, makes sure that the bracelet is in place and goes to join his fellow Gryffindors.

 

Hadrian is sitting at the Gryffindors table playing with his dinner, he would much more prefer to join his brother at the Slytherin table, but he knows he can’t..  _ And why not? Why can’t we mix? We’re all schoolmates, just because we share a house we do not have  to spend every minute together! The teachers are always yammering about the school unity and how we should have a good relationship with other houses, but they completely separate us! I don’t want to sit here with my so called friends, listening to Hermione describing every single fucking book she bought. Who cares?  _ he is sitting there for 15 more minutes and no one asks him how was his day, no one cares what he did locked in the castle while they were having fun at Hogsmeade.

When he suddenly stands, they do not even stop their one sided conversations, he is halfway through the Hall when Ron yells: “Hey, mate! Where are you going?” Haddy ignores him and continues on his way. Ron’s yell allerted half of the students who are now watching him. He passes the Hufflepuff table and nears the Ravens. Luna obviously thinks he is going to join her because she sends him a welcoming smile, but he just smiles back and continues. The whole Slytherin goes quiet, watching him warily.

He continues until he stands directly behind Draco, by now every student and teacher is watching him.  _ They are probably expecting a fight _ thinks Haddy and pokes Blaise Zabini, who is sitting next to his brother. 

“Are you lost little lion?” Zabini asks sarcastically, but with apparent curiosity and warriness to his gaze.

“Move Zabini, I want to sit with Draco” Blaise’s eyebrows rise so high they are almost lost in his hairs, but after a nod from Draco he makes space for Haddy to join them. Whispers are heard from every corner of the Hall, some people even stand on their chairs to take a better look at him. One voice however, can be clearly heard over the sea of students.

Ron is standing, face almost purple and fists placed on his hips: “What are you doing Harry? Why are you sitting with those slimy snakes?!” at that moment the similarity between him and his mother is uncanny. The only thing missing is a rolling pin or a spatula in his hand.

Haddy can feel his brother’s arm around his back, offering support. Draco completely ignores the looks he is receiving from his own house and prepares for a fight with the stupid blood traitor. Before he can yell at Weasel to mind his own business, Severus gets to him first:

“Mr. Weasley! This is not a marketplace for you to yell here! Mind your manners! There is no rule against people from other houses joining their friends during a meal. Five points from Gryffindor for the lack of manners you showed us.”

“But he can not sit with them! They are our enemies!” Severus voice gets dangerously low, every student in the hall knows, that it can mean only one thing - Weasley is in deep shit.

“Detention with Mr. Filch for a week and fifty points from Gryffindor. There is no such things as enemies in this school you stupid child. Just because someone is sorted into another house, it does not mean you can not be friends with him or her. I believe you should have friends in all houses, only then there can be proper inter house unity in Hogwarts. Don’t you agree?” he asks his colleagues. The other Heads of Houses give him enthusiastic consent, even Dumbledore does, although reluctantly.

Many of the students take this as a permission and move to join their friends in other houses. There are even some Ravens brave enough to join their friends or siblings at the Slytherin table. One of those is Luna, who almost dances across the aisle between their tables and somehow gently forces Crabbe and Goyle to split and let her sit between them right across Haddy.

“Hello Gregory, hello Vincent” she greets them in her dreamy voice. “I see the nargles fluttering around your heads earlier are gone now. Probably because of the cork stops left from the bottles. They do not like corks at all. I wonder why…” Crabbe and Goyle just look at her as if she is completely mental, but don’t say a thing, preferring to continue eating. Haddy tries to stiff his laugh in his brother shoulder, but it’s hopeless.

“Oh Luna, I love you so much!” he feels Draco’s arm around his waist tighten possessively, so he puts his hand on his tight to calm him. “Tell me how was your Hogsmeade visit?”

“Oh it was very exciting! I’ve met a real vampire! He was sitting at the Three Broomsticks with professor Slughorn! But he did not look like the vampires I read about at all! He was not glittering in the sunlight. It was little disappointing, but maybe he wasn’t a real vampire after all” she finishes quietly, as if speaking to herself.

“Real vampires glitter in the Sun? I never heard of that!” asks Pansy Parkinson.

“Oh yes, they certainly do! Their skin looks like diamonds, it is why you usually don’t see them outside during the day. It would show their victims who they really are and it would be harder for them to hunt. I read this in one very interesting book, it is called Twilight and it is a history of one of the clans living in the States!”

“Luna, I heard about this book. It is not a history, it is a muggle fiction” Haddy tries to explain.

“No it is not! It’s real. They just disguised it as a fiction so the muggles won’t understand, but other vampires can find them and come for a visit.” 

“Luna, I’m sure it is just a fiction. It is a romance after all” he tries to talk some sense into her, but he knows the battle is lost when Pansy exclaims: “Uuuh, a vampire romance? Can I borrow it?”

“Sure why not, I have the first part with me here” Luna says handing her the book. Pansy immediately opens it and starts to read, with several other Slytherin girls reading over her shoulder. Haddy wants to argue further that Twilight certainly isn’t a history of some vampire clan when he is interrupted by subtle cough right behind him.

“Mr. Potter” is heard in the deep, sensual voice of the Potions master “causing uprising again I see.” Haddy blushes furiously, ready to defend himself, but Severus continues “don’t worry, I’m not here to take points or send you back to the Gryffindors. I simply noticed that since you’ve switched tables you did not eat a bite of your dinner. We can not have our Saviour go to bed hungry.” his words sound sarcastic, but both Haddy and Draco can see the real worry in the dark orbs. Draco immediately takes a plate and starts to load it with all the food he can reach. It is the first time Haddy notices, that their food is different. There are no cakes and roasted meat, instead the table is full of vegetables, fruit, grilled meat and there are also some soups. It looks much more tasty than what Gryffindors get. 

“Hey! Why is your food different than ours?” he asks loudly. It is Sev who answers “It is upon my request. I do not believe that children should be allowed to eat as much sugar and fried meat, it is not healthy. I talked to the house elves and gave them strict orders what can and can not be served at my House’s table.”

Crabbe and Goyle suddenly lift their heads and start scanning the nearest part of the Ravenclaw table. They probably never realized that the other tables have more sweets on them. They hastily depart, going straight for the big chocolate cake sitting amongst Ravenclaw firsties, the little ones quickly making room for them.

_ Hmm, I will have to talk to the elves again. It is time that all tables have more healthy food. I will enlist Poppy’s help to ensure we convince as many teachers as possible. Otherwise Dumbledore won’t allow it. _ Severus shakes of his musings and notices that the plate Draco prepared for his little brother is so full that even Crabbe would not be able to eat it all.  _ Damn overprotective big brothers! How can he think that their little Haddy will be able to stomach all of it? We will be glad if he can manage one quarter of it. _ Hadrian is looking at it warily.

“Mr. Potter, I’m here also to bring you a nutrition potion. I was asked by our Mediwitch to prepare several brews for you, she is apparently concerned about your health. She thinks you’re severely underweight and asked me for help. This is the potion you need to drink right after you finish your meal. I will give you one at every dinner until we can see you are out of the danger zone. And for god’s sake do not eat all of that, you will be sick. Here give me the plate.” Severus takes Haddy’s plate and removes most of it onto another. What is left is mostly vegetables and few pieces of chicken breasts. “Here this in the appropriate amount for you right now. Draco, make sure he eats everything and takes his potion.”

“Of course godfather. I will make sure he eats it all even if I have to sit here for the whole night and stick it down his throat.” satisfied Severus leaves them, already planning how to convince Poppy and the rest of the teachers about the necessary changes in their students diet.


	9. Back where I belong

Haddy was afraid to go back to his fellow Gryffindors and he had a reason to be. He delayed returning to the tower as much as he could, clinging to Draco, talking to his friends, but he could not stall any longer as it was curfew. He says his goodbyes but still does not feel like facing the music yet. So he wonders the castle, glad that he has the cloak and Marauder’s map with him. For a while he thinks of sleeping in the Room of requirements, but in the end decides against it.  _ What if they start to look after me? The Room would be revealed and I couldn’t use it as often. No, I need to go back. What is the worst thing they can do? Tell me they are not my friends anymore? I know that already. _

It is long after curfew when Haddy walks into the Gryffindor common room, hoping against all odds that Ron and Hermione went to sleep already.

They did not. The common room is still half full, mainly his year mates and the older years, they’re obviously waiting for him. Ron, Hermione and Ginny jump off the couch the moment he walks in.

“Harry! What was that supposed to mean? Why did you leave in the middle of our conversation and joined the Snakes?” starts Hermione. “Yeah” continues Ron “Why are you suddenly so chummy with the slimy snakes? Explain, because I sure don’t get it.”

“Why wouldn’t I? They were certainly better company than you two!” Haddy starts angrily, deciding that the best defence is offence “you didn’t even ask how I’ve been, you were just talking about yourselves and did not care about me! You never do unless I can do something for you. That’s not how friends behave!”

“Come on mate! That’s it? You were angry you could not come with us so you went to Malfoy?! Newsflash the world does not revolve around you all the time!”

Before Hadrian can utter an angry retort, Ginny slides to him and starts: “Hey Harry, don’t be angry. I promise we can go to Hogsmeade together next time. We can even go to Madam Puddifoot’s, make it a date!” she tries to hug him.

“Do not touch me you little slut! Can’t you see I don’t want you? I could never be with someone like you even if I weren’t gay!” he tries to shove her away from him. She stumbles and falls to the ground.

Ron is absolutely livid “Don’t you dare talk to my sister like that! First my mum, now Ginny. Who do think you are? I wish you would die together with your parents!” he swings his arm and punches Haddy straight into his face.

Haddy is suddenly five again being beaten by his uncle. He turns away in pure panic and runs, runs as fast as he can, not looking where he is going. He stops in front of an empty wall, only then realizing he is in front of the secret entrance to Slytherin common room. He notices a little snake carved into the stone and pleads in parseltongue: “Please let me in, please I beg you I need to go to my brother” he cries. “I can not let you in without the password, little speaker” replies the snake.  _ What now? I must get in, I must see Draco. _ He is still panicking when a sudden idea strikes him. He rips of the bracelet he’s got from the goblins, his appearance instantly changes and says to the snake “I am an heir of Salazar Slytherin, I command you to let me in!” surprisingly it works and the bricks shift around to create an entrance for him.

He runs in calling frantically for Draco, not thinking about the students he might wake up. The common room is empty but soon the first sleepy Slytherins appear, Draco among them. Hadrian does not hesitate and launches himself at his twin. The moment he is securely in his brother arms he start to cry again.

 

One of the prefects calls Severus, talking about strange boy appearing in their common room, crying and calling for Draco. Severus does not have to hear more, he guesses correctly that the boy is Hadrian and runs to the dorms.

When he gets there the whole Slytherin house is in the common room surrounding Draco who holds crying Hadrian in his arms, there is blood on his hands and Severus can not get there quickly enough. He tries to pull Hadrian off of Draco but he can not move his arms, at loss on what to do next he listen to the frantic murmur of the obviously frightened boy. There are only three words being repeated over and over again “Please, papa, help.” The potions master quickly approaches the fireplace and throws Floo powder in. “Malfoy manor” he calls impatiently, a little house elf is the only one on the other side, so he quickly instructs him to call Lucius and tell him to get to the common room.

Both he and Draco try to reassure the distressed boy while they wait, but it seems that the boy does not recognize them at all, it is as if he wasn’t even in the same room.

Finally the fireplace lightens up and in storms Lucius still in his night clothes only robe on top of them. He immediately sees his children sitting on the floor, hugging and moving back and forth.

“What the hell happened?!” he runs to them as quickly as he can. “Hey angel, what is goin on? Shh, don’t cry, Papa is here. Everything is going to be alright.”

 

When Haddy hears his Papa, he is finally able to let go of Draco. He hugs his Papa and tries his best to hide under his hairs and robe. “Please Papa, don’t let them hurt me again, I can’t…. I can’t take it anymore!” he cries.

“Who hurt you angel? Tell me. Tell Papa.” Lucius pleads in the voice he used to use when Draco was a little boy, running to him with a scrape or a bruise.

“It was Ron! He, he punched me!” whispers Haddy.

“That stupid blood traitor! I will kill him!” furious Draco starts for the door, murder clear in his eyes only to be stopped by his godfather. “Later Draco, later you will have your revenge. Now you must remain here, your brother needs you.” Haddy needing him is the only thing more important than killing those who hurt is sweet little brother, so Draco remains and joins his Papa and Haddy on the couch.

Lucius is trying to coax the whole story from his still sobbing son. After a while, Hadrian calms down enough to explain what happened and allows Severus to cast healing charms on him. Luckily nothing was broken and the bleeding nose stopped, but the bruise could not be entirely avoided.

“I am taking them with me, create some excuse if someone asks, I don’t care. I will bring them back tomorrow.” Lucius instructs Sev, picking them both like they’re small children, his inhuman strength making his creature heritage obvious to everyone present. It is clear that only the need to take his children to safety is preventing him from storming the castle and seeking immediate payback. His hair are standing up like a fur of an angry cat and his nails are slowly shifting into talons. Severus does not hesitate, throws some Floo powder into the fireplace and calls for Malfoy manor.

After their departure, Severus turns back to the gathered snakes “I expect you to keep quiet about what you’ve seen here today. Do not discuss it outside the dorms. If I hear one word about this, you will only wish you are dead!” he threatens angrily before he storms out of the common room and back to his quarters. He won’t sleep instead he will plan for revenge, no only against the Weasley boy, but against everybody who ever hurt the boy he cares about so much. They will regret ever laying a single finger on his Hadrian!

 

When the trio exists the fireplace at the Manor, Narcissa is already waiting for them “What happened Lucius? What’s wrong? Is that, is that Hadrian? Is he alright?” he already explained to his wife what happened earlier at Gringotts, however now he is in no mood for talking, he needs to get his babies to safety, this floor is still too open. 

“Later Cissy, I will explain in the morning. Haddy is very upset. I’m taking them into my bedroom, they will stay there with me tonight. Make sure we’re not interrupted by anyone!” Lucius commands, Narcissa can see how angry he is, so she just quickly nods and lets them leave.

Lucius takes them to his own bedroom, deposits then on the bed and transforms Haddy’s clothes into soft pyjamas. They curl under his arms and quickly fall asleep, completely exhausted, but he can’t, still angry.

_ What do I do now? I don’t want to return them to that horrible school. I want to keep them with me, where they are safe. What if the old fool finds out that I know Haddy is Harry Potter?  _ he now knows that the only way how his angel could become the Saviour is because Dumbledore was behind his kidnapping.  _ The only way we'll be safe is with the idiot dead, he will never stop going after my family. Oh Tom, where are you? Why did you abandon us, I need you! I can not take him down on my own. _

Just as he is falling asleep he feels strong magic push against the wards, the magic strangely familiar, almost as if it was….

Lucius makes sure his boys are still asleep, then stands up and goes to investigate who is trying to get in. They slowly drift together and hug each other in their sleep.

 

He slowly walks to the gate of the Manor, sensing that the intruder is waiting there. His suspicion was correct, in front of the main gate stands Lord Voldemort, his mate, his Tom.

After all these years they are alone again, just the two of them. Lucius just wants to run to him, hug him and kiss, but this is not his mate, not really. His mate was charming, loving person, but this one is only a monster. He forces Lucius to do his will, not caring what he thinks or wants to do. He even almost made him kill their son! Granted, he does not know that Harry is Hadrian, but still!

“Why are you here my Lord?” he asks warily.

“You won’t even let me in Lucius? Will you let me stay in front of the gates like some beggar?”  _ Yes, that is exactly what I want to do. _

“Of course not my Lord, please come in” Lucius alters the wards to let him through and leads him into the house. He takes him to the green salon in the east wing, the farthest place from his own room he can think of.

“May I offer you some tea my Lord? Or perhaps something stronger?”

“No need to be so formal dear Lucius.” chuckles Voldemort.  _ Formal? I shouldn’t act formal? He just shows up out of fucking nowhere and doesn’t say anything! What does he expects from me? He does not look so insane right now, but better be safe than sorry. _

“I’m sorry, but I’m just trying to find out what are you doing here.”

“Maybe I just wanted to see my husband” teases Voldemort. Something snaps in Lucius upon hearing the words my husband.

“You wanted to see me?! How fucking dare you! You just show up and expect me to throw myself at you? Are you insane? You left me! You left me alone with our baby son and went god knows where! You were gone for fifteen fucking years and now you expect me just spread my legs and let you fuck me?!”

“Mind your manners Lucius.” says Voldemort in low, dangerous voice. “Don’t make me do something we will both regret.” That shuts him up, for a while Luc forgot that this is not Tom, that this is the most powerful Dark Lord and that he is completely insane. He saw the look in his eyes many times before and it was always a bad sign. Only few who received it left the room alive. Tears start to form in his eyes, but he does not want to show any weakness to this stranger, so he quickly sits back down and bows his head, hiding his face behind a curtain of silver hair.

“The reason why I’m here, is because I can feel a strange pull on my magic” Voldemort says in a light, conversational tone as if Lucius did not say anything. “I started to feel it this afternoon, it did not fade so I decided to follow it. I apparated, not knowing where just following the pull, when I suddenly appeared at your front gates. The pull is much stronger here, it is leading me to the other side of the Manor.” Lucius looks up, suddenly terrified of what does it mean, his children are sleeping on the other side of the house!

“Stand-up Lucius, we will follow the pull.” Voldemort says decidedly. It is clear that no matter what will Luc do, he will go wherever he wants and nothing and no one can stop him. They walk through the empty hallways, lights automatically turning on when they approach. Suddenly Voldemort stops, it is as if he was not sure where to go next. Lucius prays that he will go through this hallway and not go up the stairs where his rooms are.

As if he is listening to his thoughts, he starts to ascend the stairs, slowly nearing to Lucius own bedroom.  _ I must do something! He can’t find the boys! What if he hurts them?  _ He quickly blocks the door to his bedroom and exclaims: “Liar! I knew you wanted just sex! You know very well that this is my bedroom!”

“Step away Lucius and let me in!”

“NO, never!”

“What are you hiding there? I said STEP BACK!” with that his magic flares up and Lucius is thrown into a small table holding an ancient vase.

The double door of Lucius’ bedroom fly open and two blond boys run out “PAPA!” they shout simultaneously and run for Lucius. Before they can reach him a bright light surrounds the Dark Lord and the smaller boy. Both son and father scramble to get in, but are stopped by an invisible wall surrounding the orb of light. The only thing they see is a shadow moving on the inside. Another shadows start to stream into the circle until the light fades away.


	10. Waking up from a nightmare

The light disappears as suddenly as it appeared, leaving dancing black spots in front of Lucius’ eyes. When he can finally see, he sees Haddy and the Dark Lord lying motionlessly in a circle of burnt rugs, not moving. He quickly kneels next to his son and checks his pulse. He is alive and breathing, but he appears to be in a deep sleep.

“Draco take you brother to my bed, I will take care of your father” Draco instantly obeys. “Nimpy!”

“What can Nimpy does for you Sir?” little house elf with Malfoy crest on her uniform appears next to him.

“Get Narcissa and Severus! Bring them to my bedroom immediately and tell them to bring their healing kits with them!”

“As you command Master, Nimpy will go now” she bows as deep as she can and disappear with a loud pop.

Only when she is gone, Lucius allows himself to go and check on his mate. He seems to be in the same state as Haddy, unconscious but not harmed in any way. He levitates him into the bedroom and puts him on the floor while he transforms one the couches into a bed. He does not want to keep him in the same bed as his son, what if he wakes up and becomes violent? On the other hand, he needs to keep an eye on him. Even though he is unconscious, Lucius binds him with the strongest charms he knows and only when he is sure Voldemort won’t be able to move, he goes to check on his sons.

Draco is sitting on the bed, Haddy’s head in his lap. Lucius joins them, hugging his elder son to him and gently combing his younger’s hair. There is nothing they can do, just wait.

Nimpy apparates Severus directly into the room the moment Narcissa gets in.

“What happened?” they stop at the sight of unconscious Dark Lord bound to a bed, but quickly continue to the boys and very distressed Lucius. Luc quickly explains about what happened with the light, leaving the part how Voldemort got there for later. They both throw various diagnostic spells on both Haddy and his father, but can not find anything wrong with them.

“It looks like they are just sleeping, it feels like they used almost all of their magic and their bodies put them to sleep until it recuperates.” Narcissa comments.

“So what are we going to do?”

“I can give them a potion that will allow the magic to restore more quickly, but other than that I am afraid we can not do anything right now, just wait till they wake up, only then we can find out more.”

“Will you stay here Mama?” Draco asks in a small voice.

“Of course darling, scooch let's make this a little bit more comfortable. She lies down behind Draco, who holds his brother in his arms, not willing to let go. Lucius climbs into the bed and lies down on Haddy’s other side, while Severus transforms a chair into a single bed, placing himself between the family and the prone body of their Lord. If Voldemort wakes up angry, he will have to get through him first.

 

_ I wake up in my favorite room in the world, the bedroom of my beautiful mate. But why am I tied to some small bed near the fireplace? Was he angry at me yesterday? He can get angry for the weirdest things especially during his pregnancy. Oops, it is good that he is not a very skilled legilimens, I would be sleeping on a couch at least a month for that, hehe. But really, what is with these bonds? Were we kinky or what? _ The binds are magical, so Tom focuses his energy to untangle them. It takes some time, but he manages. He was not called a magical prodigy from his first year for nothing. 

_ What? What is this? Why are all these people in our bedroom? Oh okay, Sev, Narcissa, some teenagers, oh there he is! The most beautiful man in the whole world. _

“Good morning sunshine, wake up beloved” he tries to stir Lucius gently, giving him a light kiss and is very pleased when it is returned.

“Hmmm, my love, you’re up early. Come back to bed.” Lucius rubs his face against Tom’s like a big affectionate cat.

“I can’t beloved, your bed is already full” he teases.

“What? What do you mean full?” Lucius rolls over to take a look. He suddenly remembers the events of last night.

“Oh my god! TOM! Is that you?” he launches into his arms and starts peppering him with kisses. The man no longer resembles cross between human and a snake, he looks just like his old self, it gives Lucius hope that miracles do happen and his love is no longer insane.

 

“Lucius! Immediately step away from him!” they part and see very angry Severus holding Tom’s wand and pointing his own at them.  _ What is the matter with him? Why he wants to keep me away from my Luc?  _ Tom can’t figure it out, but is very surprised when he sees his mate actually moving away from him, instead joining the young boys huddling together behind Sev’s back.

The potions master sees his attention moving to the boys and rises his wand threateningly.  _ Who are they? It is obvious, that all of them are trying to protect those boys. They look strangely familiar. Are they related to Malfoys? They seem to share several traits with Lucius, including his beautiful silver hair. But why would Sev, Cissa and Luc think I am a threat to them? _

“Cissa! Take the boys away, we will call you as soon as we know what is happening” Severus orders.

“NO!” screams the taller of the boys “I won’t leave! I want to know what is happening. It is my right, our right as his sons!”

_ SONS! MY SONS?! It can’t be! My baby boys are just a week old, these boys are at least fifteen _ .

Lucius can feel his panic through their mating bond, it is the first time since Tom went mad, that the bond works as it should. It is because of the bond he knows that this is not a trick, this really is his beloved husband. He approaches him again, ignoring Severus’ attempt to stop him.

“Tell me love, tell me what is happening in your head.” he pleads gently, taking his mate’s face into his palms, sending calm feeling through the bond, still feeling the panic pouring from the other side.

“Luc, how can they be our sons? They are just babies!” shock is apparent on everyone’s faces.

“What do you remember my love?”

“What do you mean what do I remember? You just gave birth to our perfect twins. Then… then Hadrian got a light fever and Narcissa recommended we get him checked at St. Mungo’s because she does not have enough experience with small babies. You stayed with Draco, while I took him there. There was some commotion in the hospital while I waited for the healer to check Haddy and then… then I woke up here! Oh, Merlin! How is Haddy? Is he okay? Did I bring him home safely?”

“He is okay, Haddy is okay. That is him, the one with longer hair.” Both boys step out from behind Severus, cautiously approaching their parents.

“Don’t be afraid boys, this is your father, your real father I can feel it. He won’t hurt you.”

Tom can not believe his eyes and ears  _ These are my boys? But how can that be? Lucius wouldn’t lie about something like this. And now when I have a chance to look at them I can see it. They are the perfect combination of us both. At first glance they resemble Lucius, but I can see myself in the shape of their nose, of their mouth. Their slight, skinny build. _

He can still see the boys hesitate, so he slowly approaches them and opens his arms. When he sees no immediate rejection he hugs them to himself as hard as he can.

 

“I will call for some tea. Nimpy!”

“Yes Mistress?”

“Bring us tea and some light refreshments and such” the house elf just bows, snaps her finger and the table near fireplace is suddenly full with tea service, sandwitches, fruits and soft little cakes. The group moves to sit down, Tom keeping his sons close with Lucius joining them on the big couch.

The adults slowly take turns in explaining what happened back when Hadrian was kidnapped, how Tom changed and provided a shortened and little less gruesome account of the last fifteen years. Only the tight hugs of his sons and calming presence of his mate kept Tom from pacing the room or running after Dumbledore.

Despite it being the quick version it took almost 2 hours to tell.

“Shouldn't we try to sleep at least a little bit more? I think we all need some time to process what we’ve learned.” suggested Narcissa. They all agreed and she and Severus departed to their respective rooms, while the newly reunited family took the bed.

 

The morning came very soon for Severus. He set his wand to wake him at 7:30, because he needed to return to the school. It wouldn’t do for him to miss breakfast, if he wanted to keep the headmaster’s nose from the family affairs.

He instructed the house elf to inform other that he will return after the breakfast and hastily departed.

First he went to the Slytherin common room, he needed to tell his snakes to help him keep cover for Draco in case someone asks and let them know he won’t be available for the rest of the day. To his surprise Greg and Vince volunteered to stay in the dorms for the whole day to make Draco’s absence less apparent, so he lent them his personal house elf for the day with permission to bring them any food they want to. Everybody thinks they are useless and stupid, but the opposite is true. His godson is very lucky to have them as best friends.

Severus had very hard time keeping from cursing Dumbledore or that stupid ginger idiot during the meal. Only the fact, that it would endanger his position as a spy for his true family kept him at bay. It did not keep him from taking as many points from Gryffindors as possible.

_It seems like none of the lions is concerned that their golden boy is missing. Little fools. If it would not be for Dumbledore, I would request him to be resorted to my own house. He would me much more happy and safe in there. But the old fool would never allow that._ _No, we need to come up with a better way how to keep Haddy from his influence. Oh my god how I wish he would die already!_

 

Lucius wakes up, when he hears the boys slip out of the room. Last night feels like a dream, his boys are with him, safe at least for now and his perfect mate returned to him. Tom is still sleeping with his head cushioned on his chest, looking so young and innocent. Feelings of fierce protectiveness envelope him _ I will never allow anyone to hurt you again my love, I will keep you safe even if I have to kill Dumbledore with my bare hands! It is funny how everyone always assumes that I am the submissive one in our relationship. They always expect the danger to come from Tom. All they see is my looks and manierism and they do not realize that I am the one in charge. I was not raised to be someone’s submissive, I am a Malfoy and Malfoys bow to no one. My Tom on the other hand raised himself, with no one to lean on, he needs someone to take that burden, to shoulder his worries and take care of him. I failed him once, but never again, I will find a way how to become immortal, because even in million years I won’t be able to repay all the suffering he had to endure because of my error. And if he still wants to rule? I will lie the whole world at his feet. _

Lucius can not stay still, he needs to feel his mate, needs to be inside him. It was too long ago since they made love for the last time. He starts to kiss Tom’s neck, knowing how sensitive it is. He gives several small kitten licks and then latches properly and starts to suck, wanting to mark his love for everyone to see.

“Hmmm Lucius, good morning.” Tom wakes with a moan.

“Good morning my love” Lucius seizes his mouth in a deep, possessive kiss. “I have a great plan for you today, do you want to hear it?” he asks, training teasing kisses down the column of Tom’s neck.

“Hmmm, whatever you want beloved, I would do anything for you.”

“Yeah, you would, because you belong to me.” he bites his ear, making him moan, Tom is relishing in the possessiveness he can hear in his beloved’s words. “You are mine to love, to spoil and to fuck. And I’m going to, I’m gonna fuck you so hard you’re going to feel my cock all day long” he promises heatedly.

“Oh yes, please fuck me, show me that I’m yours!”

Lucius does not hesitate, he pulls all the covers off, wanting to see his mate in his full naked glory, to drink in what was denied to him for so long. He grabs his wand from the bedside table and quickly casts appropriate spells.

“You belong to me! No one else can have you! I will kill anyone who tries!” he murmurs dangerously and slams home in one move. He starts fucking him like a man possessed, desperate to reassert his claim to this gorgeous, brilliant man. It is not gentle, it is not long, the years of pent up frustration won’t allow them to go slowly. He comes and streams and streams of hot come quickly fill his mate’s hole. He pulls out and drags Tom’s ass to his face almost bending him in half, jerking his cock at the same time. Tom shouts and comes after first few touches of Lucius’ tongue on his stretched entrance. He gently puts Tom’s legs down, running his hands over every piece of him he can reach.

They stay like that, panting hard, until they are pulled from the trance by loud banging noise from the the direction of the door and loud exclamation: “Papa! My eyes!” their lovely older son yells from the top of his lungs, while simultaneously trying to cover eyes of his hysterically giggling brother. Tom is quickly pulled into his mate’s lap as if it would hide what they were doing.

“Dragon! Were you raised in the stables?! Where are your manners?” yells embarrassed Lucius.

He simply smirks back, nearly avoiding the embroidered pillow flying at his head. “This is how you treat your favorite son Papa? First you scar him for life and now abuse?” Draco laughs.

“Hey! I’m clearly the favorite son! I am much prettier and nicer than you!” Haddy joins the teasing, pretending to pout.

“You wish you little arse! Everybody knows I’m the best looking wizard of our generation!”

“Do not call your brother an arse!” Lucius goes to stand to properly chastity Draco when he realizes that he is still naked and covered in come, he promptly sits back down and unsuccessfully tries to cover his privates by pulling his laughing husband back into his lap.

“Oh god love, they are exactly like you!” laughs Tom “they are perfect” he tries to kiss the frown from his mates beautiful face.

“Oh lose the frown love, you will get wrinkles like that” he tries to kiss him again only to get punched in the arm.

“Idiots! I’m surrounded by idiots! They are not like me, they are exactly like you and are driving me crazy!” Lucius stands up, no longer caring he is naked “I’m going to shower! You two” he points at the twins “Breakfast! And make sure you have something healthy, no sweets! And you” he points at his still chuckling husband “you can go find your own bathroom! You are not welcomed in mine!” with that he slams the door as hard as he can, leaving his laughing family behind.


	11. The plan

Severus returns straight after they finish breakfast.

“I was thinking, we should keep Hadrian off the school, it is not safe for him there. Plus, they have no idea that he is not there anymore. This is the best opportunity we have.”

“But what about my studies? How will I get my N.E.W.T.s if I stay here?”

“You do not have to attend school to take the exams, many pureblood heirs are schooled at home. Luc was actually thinking of keeping Draco from attending school, but he begged us not to. Also, it does not have to be final, you can stay here until we remove Dumbledore from the seat, then you may return.” Severus tries to reassure him.

“But that can take years!”

“Listen angel, I think Severus is right” starts Lucius. He can see his son wants to argue, so he quickly continues. “But I promise, that if we can not get rid of him by the time the seventh year starts, you can go back. I also thought about it and I think you should not return to the school as Harry Potter, I think you should return as our Hadrian. We will figure out how we can introduce you to the society and you will be resorted. You may even be placed in Slytherin with your brother, hmm? What do you say?”

“I don’t know” Haddy says quietly “What do you think Draco?”

Draco hugs him close “I just want you to be happy little brother. I can not imagine you being happy in the lion’s den right now. What if Weasel will try to hurt you again? What if Dumbledore will cast another compulsion at you and you will hate me again?”

“I could never hate you Drake!” Haddy hides his face in his neck “Won’t the rings keep me safe from compulsions?”

“The heir rings should protect you, but we can not be sure they will work on all forms of magic. I was wearing the Gaunt ring when Dumbledore attacked me in the hospital. He was somehow able to overcome the protection” their Father explains. “We will not force you my son, you are almost adult and the Lord of two great houses, you should do the decision for yourself.”

“Okay, but Draco has to come to visit me often.” he decides. He knows that he is acting weird, being constantly glued to Draco’s hip. _ I’m acting like a bloody child and I hate it, but I can’t help it. I don’t want to be weak, it’s just… everything is changing so suddenly and Draco and Severus are the only ones at least a little bit familiar. I just feel the safest with them right now, even if we weren’t friends before. _

“Any chance I’ve got! I promise. Someone needs to teach you how should a young lord behave” teases Draco. “First we will start with the clothes. I will take you shopping next weekend and we will get you a whole new wardrobe, right Mama?”

“Of course darling, we will go to Paris. I already owled our favorite seamstress to expect us” confirms Narcissa.

“Draco! You are suppose to reassure him not scare him to death!” teases Papa. They all laugh, tension breaking a little.

“Okay I will stay, but Draco must visit me regularly and I won’t spend more than 1 hour in the dress shop!”

“Oh my sweet child, how little you know your brother and Mama. You will be locked in that shop from dawn to dusk” laughs Lucius. Haddy frowns, not looking forward to the shopping trip at all when a sudden idea strikes him “But Papa, you and father must come too! He will need new robes as well!” he smirks evilly.

The panicked looks on faces of both of his parents are priceless. “Haddy, how is it possible that you are a Gryffindor? With that mind you should be in the Slytherin from the beginning!” laughs Severus.

“I was suppose to! The Hat wanted me in Slytherin actually, but at that time I did not know anything about our world and I heard only bad things about the snakes, so I begged it to sort me elsewhere. I am sorry” he finishes sadly. There is nothing he regrets more, if he just let the hat decide he could be a friend with Draco earlier and maybe they would find out his true heritage much sooner. Imagine spending summers in the Manor, playing and flying, instead of weeding Dursleys’ garden.

Surprisingly it is Tom who tries to reassure him “It is okay Haddy. We will love you no matter what house you are in. And from what your Papa told me you are the heir to Godric Gryffindor as well, isn’t that right?”

“You are not mad? I thought you are like the chief of all Slytherin given you are their Lord” Haddy asks quietly, still little scared of his father and his possible reaction.

“Angel, I am the heir of the House Slytherin, that is true, but did you know that the Hat was thinking about putting me into Ravenclaw? We all have some characteristics that could put us into other houses. Look at your Papa, he is the bravest man I know, he could be in Gryffindor.”

“No, I could not! I look terribly in red!” argues Lucius, trying to lift up the mood a little. He does not like the tension he could still see in Hadrian.

“Don’t lie love, we all know you look perfect in everything. And even better naked” leers Tom.

“Ewww Father! Not in front of us!” Haddy jumps off of his lap “Wasn’t it enough we caught you having… you know what, this morning?” 

“Oh get use to it Haddy” teases Severus “I can not count how many times I found them in flagranti!”

“Yes, me too” adds Cissa.

“We too” echoes from the paintings around the room and everyone starts to laugh, everyone except Lucius who tries to hide his completely red face in his mate’s shoulder.

 

“Okay, so what we can do about Dumbledore?” asks Cissa. “If we want to get rid of him, but not reveal that it is us doing it, we need to tarnish his reputation. The best would be if the parents of the children plead the Board to remove him. Spreading rumors won’t help, they can be stopped and won’t convince the masses that see him as the wise old hero who got rid of Grindelwald.”

“Yes, it can not be only us pushing, we could have the help of most of the magical creatures who hate him because of the creature registry law, but the wizarding masses love him.”

“And what if we get one of the papers to print stories about him? We can start with listing all the dangerous things he allowed to happen in the school.” suggests Haddy. “I’m sure the Lovegoods will love to help us, they are family after all. Aren’t they?”

“You think the Lovegoods are related to us? Why?” asks Draco.

“Come on Draco. Didn’t you see Luna? Her hair is the exact shade of ours, that can not be a coincidence! And it is not just the hair, she looks like our sister.”

“Who is this girl they are talking about? I never heard of the Lovegoods” asks Lucius.

“She is a year younger in Ravenclaw. Her parents are Pandora and Xenophilius Lovegood. He is the owner of the Quibbler.”

“Quibbler? I don’t think anyone will take us seriously if we release the story in that paper. It is usually full of conspiracy theories and creatures no one believes exist.” comments Narcissa.

“But the Prophet won’t print such a story and I know how to get Rita Skeeter to write the article. She is an unregistered animagus, she can turn into a beetle. Remember Draco?” 

“You are right! And if she is the one writing the story, people will believe it even if it is printed in the Quibbler. She is very popular.”

“Okay, it is a good idea. I will invite this Xenophilius for lunch tomorrow and we will see how it goes. Severus don’t you have to meet with the goblins today? I think Tom and I should accompany you. I would like to discuss with them how can they help us with Dumbledore and I think their healers should have a look at him. Who knows what Dumbledore did to him? The ball of light and the flying shadows were like nothing I ever saw before, I think we need their council.”

“Sure we can go straight away.” agrees the potions master.

“The boys and I will stay here, we need to have a look on some of Draco’s older clothes and how we can fit them to Haddy” Narcissa smiles evilly.

“NO! Papa please take me with you. I don’t wanna try clothes all day.” he runs to his Papa for help, looking at him pleadingly. He would do anything to get out of it.

“But angel, you need to stay, you can not be in your pyjamas the whole week. Take this as a training for our shopping trip in Paris” Lucius hugs him and whispers in his ear “this is my revenge for forcing me to go to Paris with you. Have fun!” he kisses his cheek and practically runs from the room laughing evilly.

 

“I am here to see master Silvercrux” announces Severus when they enter the Gringotts bank.

“Of course my Lord, please follow me.” the three of them follow the goblin into Silvercrux’s office.

“Lord Prince! Welcome.” greets the the goblin.

“Good afternoon Silvercrux, I am here to claim my Lordship.”

“Yes, I have everything prepared. As you saw yesterday, you will need to take the Inheritance test to prove your claim for the title and then I will hand you the ring.” They finished the test quickly and soon Severus had the ring on his finger.

“Is there anything else I can do for you Lord Prince?”

“Yes, I would like to get an update regarding Dumbledore and his meddling with my inheritance, but before we start, I need you to invite also several of your other colleagues. I believe the tellers for families Black, Potter, Malfoy, Gaunt, Slytherin and Peverell need to be present as well.”

“Certainly Sir, may I offer you refreshments while we wait for them to join us?”

“Yes, thank you, also I would think that the matters we are going to discuss here require the highest level of secrecy. Is there a room where we can discuss? Of course we will pay the traditional fee for your service, you may take it from my account.” The goblin nodded and led them deep under the main halls of the bank. The meeting room they walked into was looking almost primitive, it lacked the riches and comforts of the regular offices, but instead was carved into a rock, the wall lined with protective runes and spells.

They sit down behind a long oak table, Lucius sitting at the head of the table, taking charge. The other two are used to letting him be in charge, his knowledge of law, political and negotiating skills always proved to be most useful in handling such delicate situation as is this one. They were soon joined by three other goblins. Gorkrus who handles Black and now also Potter estates, Cravokx who is in charge of Malfoy’s accounts and Srorg, the teller of Slytherin/Peverell/Gaunt line.

 

The meeting started by report provided by Gorkrus and Silvercrux, according to them many laws currently in place were approved in Wizengamot only because Dumbledore was in charge of Black’s, Potter’s and Prince’s seats. When they will publish the results, over over hundred and fifty bills will have to be reviewed and approved or rejected. The most important being the creature registry bill as well as the bills related to position and autonomy of Hogwarts as an institution giving the Headmaster of the school almost unheard privileges and rights.

The next they focused on the unlawful movements of funds from Black, Potter and Prince vaults to Dumbledore’s, Order of Phoenix’s and other accounts. It was almost twenty million galleons and the three men were enraged when they noticed that quite large amounts were transferred to accounts of several members of Weasley family, to Hermione Granger and the worst of them, to the Dursleys.

“How could he!” Lucius’ fist slammed into the table. “Dumbledore was paying them? He was paying them to beat him, to abuse him? Dead is too good for a man like him!”

“Shh, calm down love. He will regret the day he went against us, he will be wishing for death, but we won’t show any mercy.” Tom tries to calm him down.

“Excuse me Sir, but why I was called here?” asks the oldest looking teller in the group. “I am the personal teller of the Peverell/Slytherin line, I have nothing to do with the matters of Black, Prince or Malfoy family.” he states pompously.

“You are here because of me master goblin. My name is Thomas Marvolo Gaunt Riddle and I am the lord of the lines you’ve just mentioned.” explains Tom.

“Thomas Marvolo… but that means that you are the one who calls himself Lord Voldemort!”

“Yes, that is me, however I did not take the name willingly. Yesterday I got accidentally reunited with my family. Upon our meeting a strange light enveloped me and my youngest son, the witnesses claimed to see shadows flying into the light. After the magic ended, we were both completely drained from our magic. I woke up next morning, not remembering anything from last fifteen years. We’re here to ask the goblins for help to figure out what happened.”

“We will need to do the inheritance test to prove your claim to the Lordships of both Slytherin and Peverell lines. I believe Silvercrux still has what is needed for that. In the meantime I will send one of the guards to bring here the Lordship rings.”

 

The old goblin presents the Gaunt and Slytherin rings right after the inheritance test confirmed his claim.

“How do you have the rings? I had them on my hand the day my mind was manipulated.” asks surprised Tom.

“It is a safety precaution put on all lord and heir rings. If the rings is taken from it’s rightful owner or the owner no longer fits the role, the rings are automatically transferred back to us and locked until a claim for the ring is filed and verified again.

“Make sense, thank you Srorg. Now about the magic and missing memory. Is there anything we can do about that?”

“Yes, I believe we can. Our best healer is on his way, if he can’t heal you then no one can.”

With that the big stone door at the far side of the room opened and in walked a procession of goblins in strange silver clothes marking them as healers. Lucius explains what happened last night, for once not keeping out the information that Hadrian was known as Harry Potter for so many years, the goblins knew already anyway. A circle of crystals and candles was created and Tom had to lie inside naked. Only the fact that this was supposed to help him him, kept Lucius from trying to cover his mate’s body in fit of jealousy. That and the fact that he could see Severus laughing at him.

 

It took hours. Hours of chanting by the goblins, of nervous pacing by Lucius but it was done. Tom is weak as a kitten when he wakes up from the magically induced sleep, so Luc helps him stand up and dress. He then pulls his mate into his lap, for once not giving a flying fuck about decorum.

“Well? What did you find out master healer?” he asks the goblin impatiently.

“I believe we found the reason behind Lord Slytherin’s madness. It is a very dark magic that splits the soul of the caster into pieces, these are called Horcruxes. The smaller portion stays with the wizard, the less sane he gets. We could feel remnants of seven horcruxes in you. Your soul was split into eight pieces.”

“I never heard of anything like that, how does one splits his soul?”

“Murder. If you kill someone, especially by dark magic it leaves a wound on your soul, then there is a spell that helps tear the wounded part away and store it in a container.”

“I never killed anyone! I wouldn’t!” the wizards formerly known as the greatest Dark Lord of their century exclaims. He can’t bear the suspicious and pitying looks given him by goblins, so he turns to his mate and hides his face in his neck.

“Shhh my love, I know, we know it was not you. You wouldn’t hurt a fly. Shh, it will be alright” Lucius tries to comfort him.

The goblin continues “We believe you as well my Lord. The other thing we found was several very strong compulsions. Someone put you under several very dark and dangerous spells, there wasn’t anything you could do to fight it. And regarding the memory loss, we believe it is your Magic trying to protect you. All the memories seem to be still there, just blocked. Sometimes our mind plays trick with us to protect itself. You should fully recover your memory, however we recommend to try not to push it. A very skilled legilimens should be able to tear down some of the barriers in your mind, however that can be very dangerous for you.”

“And how come he is himself again? What happened last night?” asks Severus.

“It seems, that one of the horcruxes was your son, when he claimed his lordship yesterday, the Black ring started to interfere with the horcrux in him, trying to push it out. Once you’ve met, the soul piece was expelled from his body back to yours what triggered the other pieces to return as well. Those were the shadows you saw.”

“So does it mean he is okay? His soul is restored?”

“Yes, his soul is fully restored. His magic will be little bit weaker for few weeks to heal any lasting damages. Actually we believe that your son’s scar will disappear as well. It marked the spot where the foreign piece entered his body, with the soul gone, so should be his scar.”

 

They thanked the goblins for their help and returned back to the Manor, eager to see whether Haddy’s scar is truly gone. The yelling was heard through the whole mansion, so they found them quickly in Draco’s room.

Severus walked in first when suddenly almost naked Haddy jumped into his arms. “Sev, help me! They are torturing me! I already tried at least hundred robes and they want me to try even more!”  _ Oh my god! He is in his underwear! What should I do? Where do I put my hands? Everybody is laughing at me, everybody but Luc. I really don’t like to look he is giving me!  _ Severus tries to gently put Haddy back at the floor, but he clings to him like a baby koala, pretending to be oblivious to the older man’s predicament.

Luckily he is saved by Narcissa: “Hadrian Thomas Lucius Malfoy! You can not jump at people just in your underwear! It is inappropriate! Come back! We picked enough clothes to last you for few days, you don’t have to try more.”

“You picked enough clothes to last me a lifetime!” Haddy retorts, but releases Sev from his grip, winks at him and goes back to Cissa.  _ Oh god, do not look at his ass! Do not! _ chants Severus in his head, doing his best to look out of the window and calm his raging libido.

“Join us in the sunroom once you are appropriately attired.” commands Lucius and storms out of the room. Sitting in the sunroom with glaring Lucius was one of the longest five minutes in the Potions master’s life. Luckily, Narcissa and the boys arrived soon and Luc’s attention was diverted elsewhere.

 

It is almost seven, Draco and Sev are preparing to leave, planning on having dinner at Hogwarts, when Lucius summones Severus into his office. He does not call him like a normal person, no he summons him through a house elf like some king summoning his vassal.

“Come in and close the door” orders Lucius once he is in. Sev does as he is told and sits in front of the great mahogany table that is the center of the room.

“We need to talk about what happened today. I could smell it, I could smell your arousal when you were holding my son today” he starts in a dangerously low voice.

“Come on Luc! It was not something I could help! Your son is beautiful, it was a natural reaction” Severus can see this is not the smartest thing to say to his friend, so he quickly tries to reassure him “You must know I would never touch him inappropriately. I swear! For God’s sake he is sixteen, almost a child still.”

Lucius gives a great sigh, shoulders relaxing a little “I know my friend, I know. It’s just... I just got him back. And I can see the way he looks at you”

“Looks at me? What do you mean?”

“You really did not notice? My Haddy has a crush on you. I believe it is possible that it is his veela part recognizing his potential mate. We won’t know till he reaches his maturity, but I have this feeling that you are his mate.”

_ Me? How could I be a mate of someone so pure? So beautiful? Haddy deserves much better than old and bitter man like me. _ “Do not underestimate yourself Sev. I know your childhood did a number on your confidence, but have no doubt of your worth. You are smart, successful, good man and anyone who would have you as a mate would be very lucky.”

Severus can not help himself, he starts to laugh “How did you get from threatening me to stay away from Haddy to giving me a pep talk?”

“I was not trying to scare you off” Lucius grumbles “I just wanted to ask you to give it some time. I know I can not prevent a mating bond, but please wait till he reaches his maturity.”

“Of course Luc!” Sev jumps up and goes to hug his best friend. “Have no worry. I promise you, if we are indeed mates, I will wait until he is an adult and I will promise one more thing. It won’t be me who will make the first move. I will wait till he is ready to approach me himself.”

“Thank you Sev. There is just one more thing.” his eyes narrow dangerously “If you ever hurt my little angel, I will cut off your prick and feed it to you, understood?”

“Loud and clear Luc, loud and clear.”


	12. Brother?

It is late at night and Tom is resting in the arms of his sleeping mate, deeply satisfied after several rounds of very passionate sex. The doors slowly open to let in his younger son. “What is it Haddy? Are you okay?” he asks, immediately concerned.

“I can’t sleep Father, the bed is too big and I miss Draco” the boy admits quietly.

“Would you feel better if you slept with us?” he asks already reaching for his wand to charm them some pyjamas.

“Yes! Thanks Dad” Haddy quickly climbs into the bed and snuggles into his father’s arms.

“Sweet dreams little angel” Tom quietly wishes him, kissing gently the top of the blond head.

 

Hadrian wakes up well rested and full of energy. He quickly squirms out of the bed, kisses his parents and runs away with call “I’m going to change, see you at breakfast!”

“Oh my god! How can something so small and cute snore that loud!” moans Lucius. “I did not sleep for one minute!”

“Forget snoring, every time I was able to block out the racket and started to fall asleep, I got punched in the ribs. Did you notice how sharp are his elbows?” complains Tom.

“It’s your own fault! You let him into our bed!”

“Like you would do anything different, next time I will pretend to be asleep and you can send him away, deal?” Lucius just grumbles and stands up to take a shower. It is the first time he notices the pants Tom charmed him when Haddy came.

“Tom! You know how I hate red!”

“But love, you look so great in it!” Tom quickly stands and hugs his husband from behind.

“You know I can not resist you when you wear red love” he kisses his neck, gently pushing him into the bath chamber. “How about I join you in the shower and show you?”

 

Hadrian is already shoveling food into his mouth when they show up in the breakfast salon. “Slow down, little lion. You will get sick” chastities Tom gently.

“Sorry Dad.” he tries to slow down a little. “Do you mind when I call you Dad? I just think Father is too formal, it does not suit you.”

“Of course not little angel, you can call me anything you want.” he kisses the top of his head.

“We received a note from Xenophilius Lovegood” announces Narcissa walking into the room. “He accepted our invitation for lunch. Today we will start your education Haddy. I believe we need to start with basic table manners. We have just enough time to cover the basics by the time he comes” she comments looking disapprovingly at the boy’s full mouth. Haddy just nods, not looking forward to the lesson at all.  _ Why do I need lesson on how to eat? It is not like I am fucking Ron, always shoveling food into him and chewing with open mouth like a pig! _

By the time lunch comes, his head is spinning with all the rules and customs one needs to remember for formal meal among purebloods.  _ I never knew there can be so many different types of cutlery! I’m sure if the purebloods didn’t have the house elves to wash the dishes for them, they would use only one fork and knife! I hope Mr. Lovegood won’t mind if I make a mistake. Although judging by Luna’s behaviour, I can not imagine him being very strict, traditions following parent. _

 

Haddy didn’t need to worry. Xenophilius surely wouldn’t notice if he used the wrong fork. Actually he looked like a guy who wouldn’t mind if he ate the food with his hands.

He wore a bright, canary yellow robes, that temporarily blinded anyone who looked directly at him. Only when Lucius overcame the shock at his attire, he noticed the man himself.  _ By Merlin’s beard, he really looks like a Malfoy! He has the same hair and bone structure as I do! _ Luckily, Narcissa proved to be the perfect hostess she is and welcomed the man into their home, while Lucius got his bearings.

They filled the time with polite small talk until they got to the main course. Xenophilius used the small pause to look directly at Lucius “So tell me brother, why did you summon me after all these years?”

“Brother? You are my brother?! Impossible, I am an only child!” exclaims Lucius.

“You mean our dear father did not tell you? I am your brother, illegitimate, but still”

“You see! I told you they are related to us!” Haddy joins the conversation, bouncing in his chair in excitement.

“You did my angel, you did.” agrees Lucius, placing a hand on his shoulder, trying to stop the bouncing and remind him of the etiquette they spoke of before. He turns back to their visitor “Mr. Lovegood”

“Please call me Xeno, we are family after all.”

“Right...eghh... Xeno. I’m sorry, but I had no idea of your existence! How? Who is your mother? How old are you? Why didn’t you live with us?”

“Calm down Lucius, I will explain.” Lucius blinks a little at the use of his first name, he did not give him permission to use it after all, but at the ends decides to let it go, at least for now.

“My mother was not a pureblood, she was a witch, but she was a muggleborn. When she met our father, he was already engaged to your mother, even though he obviously did not share this information with her. It is really a common story, she fell in love with him, but he refused to forsake the family’s legacy and his fiance even when she told him about me. She married another man, who raised me as his own and she refused any contact with Malfoys till the day she died. I found out only afterwards, she left me a letter and a key to a vault where she saved all the money he send her over the years. So you see, I am a year older than you, but don’t worry I have no claim on the Malfoy title.”

“I was not worried about that! I do not care about the stupid title!” everybody, including the paintings look at him doubtfully. “Really, I don’t! What I care about is that I could have a brother! A real brother of my own blood growing up. I always wished for a sibling, but my mother could not have more children” he finishes sadly.

Haddy hates seeing his Papa so sad, so he tries to cheer him up by sitting in his lap and snuggling close.

“So, if it is not because I am your brother, why am I here?” Xeno asks, clearly confused. Lucius did not want to share the whole story, but this is his brother and that changes things. There is nothing more important than family for any Malfoy. So he hugs his son close for support and explains everything. How Dumbledore took his mate and son from him, how he holds control of the wizarding world, not only through his position as the Headmaster, but also in Wizengamot. “We need to stop him and want to start by removing him from the school. We plan to make sure, that the parents themselves request his removal from the position. My brilliant Haddy” he kisses his son’s head “suggested we publish some of the things he did during the years to show, how unfit he is for the position. You can imagine that the Prophet would be quite hard to convince to publish such a story.”

“And you think masses will believe what I print? I know the reputation my paper holds”

“They would if lets say Rita Skeeter will write the story” Haddy explains “we know how to convince her to agree.”

“Okay, I will leave the convincing to you then, dear nephew” Xeno winks at him “I am more than willing to help you take that old fool down. He is the reason why my paper are considered a joke and my wife is dead. She was a seer you see, she could see behind his mask, so she convinced me, that we should let the public know what kind of man our dear Dumbledore is. I agreed and we started printing the Quibbler. He convinced everyone that we are liars, that nothing we say is truth and people believed him. They say my wife commited a suicide, but that is impossible. You would never meet a happier witch than her, especially after Luna was born. I know he was behind it somehow!” the anger and helplessness still fresh after ten years.

“I am sorry for your loss brother. I will never allow him to hurt you or your daughter again. I swear!” Lucius promises, then hesitantly asks “Would you consider moving in with us? This house has hundred unused rooms and the strongest wards possible. Even he can not touch you here and I would really like to have a chance to get to know you.”

“Thank you for your offer brother, but I must refuse at least for now. I don’t know you, for all these years I thought about you as pompous idiot, who can not see behind the tip of his nose. I need time to get used to the real you, to the fact that you actually care about my existence.” The disappointment is clearly visible on Lucius face, so Xeno quickly adds “But I will visit every chance I’ve got brother, don’t worry I fully intend for us to be a family now that I know you would actually be interested. God knows my little moon needs more friends and your sons look like good lads.”

“She is already one of my best friends! Even though she does not know the real me, she knows me as Harry Potter” Haddy admits. “It would be great if I could tell her about my family. Papa! I have an idea! What if both uncle Xeno and Luna joined us on our trip next week?”

“Yes, that would be great! I always wanted to have a girl in the family. Girl’s clothes are so much prettier” agrees Narcissa excitedly. “Please come with us. We are going to Paris to buy Haddy new wardrobe. We can buy one for Luna too! A girl never has enough clothes.”

Lucius can see the slight reluctance on his new brother’s face and he can guess what is the reason “Don’t worry brother, it will be my treat. I will happily pay for Luna’s clothes if it distracts my dear wife from forcing me to buy some” he admits, pretending not to see Narcissa thunderous frown. “Actually, I do not see a reason why we shouldn’t give you access to Malfoy family vault. Lets go to Gringotts.”

“Are you sure Lucius? Isn’t it too much? I have enough money, you don’t have to give me access to yours.”

“Nonsense! We have enough money to buy all the palaces in the world, I see no reason why I shouldn't share it with you. Let’s go!”

“May I come too Papa? Can we go for ice cream afterwards?”

“Of course angel, anything you want. We are celebrating our new family today. We will try every flavour Mr. Fortescue has to offer!”

 

It is night and Tom and Lucius are preparing for bed. “Love?” starts Tom “I believe I finally found a color that would not suit you... canary yellow” he laughs. 

“Right? How can he wear such an atrocious color I can not understand, I was literally blind for few seconds” Lucius agrees. “I hope he won’t mind if we buy him some clothes in Paris as well.”

“I don’t think Narcissa will allow any of us to leave without at least five new robes. And that poor daughter of his, she will be traumatized for life.”

“Hmmm, do you think that Haddy will join us again tonight?” Lucius asks when they slide into the bed. “I don’t think so, I worked him pretty hard today, he will be beat. That boy is natural in defensive spells, he just needs to gain more confidence in offence. I think he is just scared of hurting anyone. Once he gets past that, he will be a master duelist, just like his Daddy.”

“Don’t be cocky beloved” Lucius kisses his grinning mouth. “But love! How can I not be cocky if I have such a pretty, big cock? You wanna see it?”

Lucius humms affirmatively and starts to slowly kiss down his chest. “Let me see this pretty cock you keep telling me about, I want to give it a kiss” he slides lower and engulfs him in his perfect, hot mouth.

“Oh god Luc, so good” moans Tom. Lucius continues to suck changing pace and strength but never finishing him. “Please love, stop teasing me and make me come!”

“No! I don’t want you to come like this, I want your come inside me!” retorts Lucius in very commanding tone. “I’m gonna ride you until you will go crazy with need and you are allowed release only after I decide you had enough.”

“Yes, Sir. But aren’t you afraid you’ll get pregnant again?” worries Tom.

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head my love. I took a contraceptive. This time I want it to be you who will carry the baby. You will look so hot pregnant!” he says as he positions himself and slowly sinks down. After that there is not enough breath for words, just moans.


	13. Attack

It’s Thursday evening and Haddy is lying in his new bed.  _ I can not believe this is my life now. A week ago I was a poor orphan and now I have my family and we’re filthy rich! It seems like a plot of a colombian soap opera. I am the hero, who will find his family and true love and Dumbles is the main villain, the only thing missing is dramatic music and a heavy mustache, hehe. _

_ Fuck I miss Draco, I wonder if he even knows what a soap opera is, it is so weird that wizards do not have TV. Or cell phones! How convenient it would be if I did not have to use owls! It’s like it is the bloody Middle Ages here. Perhaps the magic is interfering with the signal or something, but it would be sooo awesome if I could just text with him like Dudley with his friends. It is so weird how I came from not liking him so much to needing him constantly by my side. It would be awesome if we could talk to each other anytime we want, like the two way mirror Sirius gave me! _

_ I need to ask Papa if we have one of those, but not now. What if I catch them having sex again? I should probably go to sleep, Draco and Sev will be finally back tomorrow...  _ He turns off the lights and settles in when a bang is heard through the mansion. Hadrian does not hesitate, grabs his wand and gets ready to use all he learned from Dad’s dueling lessons.

_ I hope it was just some house elf dropping stuff, I really am not that good in offensive spells, but if someone tries to take my family again, I will end those fuckers! _

 

Tom is sitting in the library, trying to find a way how to get rid of Dumbledore. He is trying to find a way how to kill him and make it look like he died from old age.  _ If we make it look like an accident, the Ministry can try to dig into it and find out the truth. I couldn’t bear it if they made him a martyr. No, we need to make sure his reputation is destroyed and that he dies from heart attack or something. We can not leave a trace behind, hmm maybe some poison would be the best solution. Surely Sev knows some rare potion, that no one knows how to identify or something. _

His musings are interrupted by Narcissa walking in: “Tom. I just got a message from my sister. She is heading here to meet with Luc. We somehow forgot to update her and your other  followers. She said you disappeared and she needs his help to find you. She gathered some of your elite, they will be here in fifteen minutes.”

“Crap! How did you forget about them? What are we going to say?”

Cissa sits down on the sofa next to him and places a calming hand on his knee: “Don’t worry, everything will be fine. We will explain what happened and they will surely understand. I just want to warn you, Bella is not the woman you remember anymore. If you remember, she was pregnant when you went mad.”

“Yes, I do. Did something happen to her baby? Is he alright?” Tom asks anxiously. He can remember how both Bella and Rodo were so excited to have their baby boy. He was to be born just few weeks after his twins, they spent many hours sitting together, planning the future for their boys. They always wanted to raise them as brothers.

“The baby was okay, but he was also kidnapped.”

“What? How did I not know about it? He was suppose to be my godson! Who took him? Where is he now?”

Silent tears start to stream down Narcissa’s face “I don’t know. Someone attacked their home and took him from his crib, killing the house elf who was supposed to guard him, but they masked themselves. Bella was completely hysterical, we had to have her on heavy calming potions for a while. When she calmed down a little, we started to search for him. I could not fully join, because  Lucius was in no state to take care of our Dragon, but one night Bella, Rodo, Rab and Barty went to the house of the head auror Longbottom. They held both him and his wife under Cruciatus until they went mad. I don’t know what happened that night, but they were caught and locked in Azkaban until last year when you and some other death eaters freed them. She… I recommended few times that they see a mind healer, but they refuse and avoid me since. Most of the people think of her as a loon, but I know she is not truly mad. It is the Azkaban and I think she is using her madness as a cover to avoid her true feelings. She still did not accept that she will never see Lysander again.” They both hear a big crash in distance, probably coming from the main Floo room, they look at each other and quickly stand to prevent Tom’s followers from doing any harm to the Manor or it’s inhabitants.

 

Lucius was going to call Severus to agree the last details for their trip tomorrow and ask about Draco, when the Floo suddenly flares to life and in walks a group of six people: his wife’s sister going first, then her husband and brother in law, Nott and lastly Avery and Rookwood.

“Hey guys, what are you doing here?” he asks surprised by their unexpected visit.

“Lucius! My sister didn’t tell you? I sent a message we’re coming. Our Lord disappeared, you must help us find him!” starts Bella urgently, fear clear in her face. She can not lose her friend again, it’s hard enough that he is no longer himself, but she will really go crazy if they lose him again.

“Calm down dear, he is okay, he is here.” Lucius quickly reassures them. “In fact I have some great news for you. Please sit down, I will explain everything.” The group listens  to the story of how Tom became himself again with apparent happiness. People always perceived them nothing more than allies connected by their social class and common goals, but the truth is, they were real friends. Most of them knew each other since they were babies as the old pureblood families met quite often and encouraged their offsprings to create strong relationships among each other.

When Lucius continues with how they went to Gringotts and how they found out about Dumbledore’s involvement with Haddy’s kidnapping and Tom’s madness, the joy turns to pure rage.

“That old fucker!” exclaims Rabastan, always the most emotional of their group. His mind starts to cloud with emotions and echo of old pain. He did not lose just Tom, but also his nephew and most importantly his best friend Regulus. He disappeared soon after Tom changed and no one knows what happened to him. It was all he could think of while being locked in Azkaban, how he never got to admit his true feelings for Reggie, how he failed to protect him and little Lysander. Black spots appear in front of his eyes and all he can hear is strange humming.

The others try to calm him down, but it is as he is not there with them. Magic starts to pour out of him, creating cloud of pure energy. Rodo remembers similar thing happening when their parents died or when Regulus disappeared, so he knows what will happen next: “Quickly hide! He has no control of his magic, it will lash out!” They run for a cover behind the big couches on the other side of the room. They make it just in time, as soon as the last one of them is behind the couch, they see a light like a thousand lighting bolts and a mighty bang reverberates through the whole Mansion. Rodo does not wait anymore and runs to his brother who is lying unconscious in the middle of destroyed room.

“Hey Rab, wake up, please look at me” he pleads, shaking his younger brother. “Maybe we should call your wife Lucius? She can do a health scan” suggests Rookwood.

“You are right Augie” starts Lucius when the door to the room barges open and Hadrian storms in.

 

Haddy runs into the room and freezes for a moment:  _ There are death eaters in our house! And not just some low ranking ones! It’s those who were locked in Azkaban. I must protect us!  _ That is when he spots his Papa, covered in soot, being held back by the worst of them, Bellatrix. He does not hesitate for a second, instead throwing an Avada Kedavra on her. Only her quick reflexes allowed her to escape unharmed. Haddy prepares to strike again, completely ignoring his Papa’s attempt to get to him.  _ I must kill her! I can’t allow that bitch to take my Papa! _ Suddenly his wand is ripped right out of his hand and flies behind him. When he turns to get it, he sees Dad running to him with completely horrified expression, wand pointed straight at him. 

“Hadrian stop! What are you doing?”  _ How can I stop? I must kill her before she murders us all! _ He is suddenly grabbed and spun around, he prepares for a fight when he notices it is Papa who grabbed him.

“Hadrian Thomas Lucius Gaunt Malfoy Riddle! What are you doing?! Are you crazy?!” his Papa yells straight to his face, completely disregarding the danger behind him. Haddy wants to stop him, to shield him, but is roughly shaked by the arm still held in Lucius’ iron grip. “You can’t use that curse on anyone, especially not on your own aunt! Why would you do that?!” Lucius suddenly spins him around landing several harsh slaps on Haddy’s pyjama clad butt. “Go to my office and wait for me there! Now!” Haddy does as he commands, head hanging low, no looking at anyone.

 

Haddy runs away from the room with tears streaming down his face, he doesn’t go to the study, opting for his own room instead.  _ How could he? I was so stupid! I trusted him and he is the same as them! I can’t take it, I can’t stay in another family that will treat me like a trash. I will go away and never come back! Fuck them and their false promises. I was so fucking stupid! How could I trust them? They are death eaters! Murderers! _

He starts to pack the few meager belongings that are actually his. He is not taking any of Draco’s clothes, just his school uniform and some underwear. All his old stuff from Dursleys was thrown away. He looks at Hedwig, but in the end he decides to leave her here. It will probably take more time for them to notice he is gone, if they see her. “I’m sorry Hedvig, it will be better if you stay. I promise I will figure out a way how to get you back later” he promises her and steps into the Floo.


	14. Search party

“Oh my god Bella! Are you okay? I’m so sorry I don’t know what got into him.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine, don’t worry. Was that Hadrian?” Lucius just nods. That is when the group of friends notice a strange man standing in the door.

“Tom!” they exclaim and run to him, almost trampling poor Rab still lying on the ground. “Mate! You look like you haven’t aged a day, you bastard!” Avery laughs. “Thanks Ave, but you are starting to look like your father and is that a beer belly?” counters Tom, teasing his friend, known manwhore who was always proud of his good looks. “How dare you! I do not look like my father! I still look like I am twenty!”

“You should probably invest in some new mirrors Ave” everybody laughs and they slowly migrate to the chairs repaired by Lucius in the meantime. Cissa is already checking Rab: “It seems like a magical exhaustion, nothing serious. I will find him a bed, he should be okay when he wakes up. Actually why don’t you all stay here for few days? We’re planning to go to Paris for some shopping tomorrow, but we can postpone.”

“That is a great idea Cissa! But let’s move to the main sitting room and let the elves clean this one up.” agrees Tom. “Love, you should probably go check on Haddy.” Lucius agrees, he calmed down a little and was already regretting being so harsh with his little angel.  _ He probably just misunderstood the situation. He does not know Bella and it was her who killed that idiot Sirius. _ Lucius slowly walks to his study, thinking how he can explain himself and apologize, but make hundred percent sure that Haddy won’t use unforgivables ever again. But when he opens the door, the room is empty, so he goes to look into Haddy’s room. But that one is empty as well, only Hedwig is looking at him shrewdly.  _ Where is the boy? I hope he did not go to the gardens this late. _

“Nimpy!”

The house elf appears with a pop: “What can Nimpy does for you master?” she bows deeply.

“Where is Hadrian? I need to speak with him.”

“Young master is not here.”

“I can see that Nimpy, but where is he?”

“Nimpy felt him leave a while ago, Sir.”

“Leave? You mean he left the house, where did he go?”

“I don’t know Master, Nimpy just felt him leaving the wards, I did not see him.”

_ Oh my god, where could he go? What if… what if he did not leave alone? He would not leave us! What if they took him again? What if they hurt him?  _ Lucius can’t hold back tears, afraid out of his mind for his little boy. He runs back to Tom, slamming open the doors of the sitting room:

“TOM! Tom, they took him again! They stole my angel!” he throws himself around his mate’s neck, crying hysterically.

“What do you mean took him?! What happened?” Lucius tries to explain, but he can’t get a word out, tears and fear constricting his throat. Luckily the little elf followed her master and can explain: 

“Master! Nimpy can tell you what she know, yes she can! Master was in young master Hadrian bedroom, when he called Nimpy. Master asked Nimpy where is young master, but Nimpy doesn’t know. Nimpy felt young master leave the wards a while ago, he is not on the property Sir!” she explains, trembling from fear in front of Master and his friends. What if they blame her for not stopping her young master? She is a bad, bad elf. She starts to cry and beat her head against the floor.

“Stop it! Stop it Nimpy!” commands Tom. “Did you feel or see anyone else in the house?”

She sniffs a little “No Master, no one is or was in the Mansion except family and your friends.” Tom nods, little reassured. He takes his still crying mate to the nearest sofa and sits him in his lap.

“Shh my love. You heard Nimpy, no one else was in the house, no one kidnaped him, he was probably angry and did not want to talk to you so he hid somewhere. He will return soon, you’ll see.” 

“How can you be so fucking calm about it! He was not kidnapped, he ran away?! That is even worse!” a sudden thought hits him “It is all my fault, he hates me! I beat him, I beat him like the fucking muggles he grew up with! I’m the worst father in the world!” Lucius blames himself.

“That is not true, you are the best Papa any child can wish for. We will find him, we will find him and you can apologize, okay? He has his heir rings on him, it shouldn’t be difficult to locate him. Nimpy bring some maps.” 

The house elf snaps her fingers and the coffee table is suddenly full of maps. There are maps of the world, of England, even maps of some bigger cities. Tom pulls the map of England first. His son was never outside the Kingdom so he doubts he would leave it. He puts it on the table and takes of his lordship ring, transfiguring a piece of paper into a string. Soon the ring is hanging above the map and Tom casts the location spell  _ Ostende mihi viam!  _ Nothing happens, he frowns and switches the map for the map of the whole world. He repeats the process but still no results. He frowns: “Where could he be? This spell should work the only option is, that he is somewhere with Fidelius charm, but he can not cast that!”

“Maybe he is with his relatives or in some Order’s safe house” suggests Narcissa.

“No! My Haddy would never willingly go back to those muggles, but he could be in some of the safehouses. We should ask Sev.” argues Lucius. Nott is already heading to the fireplace when Luc adds: “Tell him to bring Draco as well. I need to have at least one of my sons by my side.” 

 

Twenty minutes later, both Draco and Severus joined their group.

“What happened?” asks Draco, hugging his parents. “I thought I will come tomorrow after school. Where is Haddy?”

“Sweetheart, it seems your brother ran away, we can not find him anywhere.” explains Tom.

“Ran away, but...” Draco is interrupted by angry Severus

“What did you do to him? The boy would not do it without a good reason!”

“I… I spanked him” admits Lucius quietly.

“What? You complete moron! How could you? You know those bastards abused him and you spanked him? No wonder he ran away!”

“Do you think I don’t know that now?!” Lucius is getting angry as well.

“What on earth could he do to piss you off that much?” Tom sees, that Lucius is preparing to shout again, so he quickly intervenes and sums up the events of last hour. “... and then, then he cast a killing curse on her! A killing curse! I don’t know what was going inside his head. I never saw it coming, he is so sweet and loving and then suddenly this!”

“You really don’t understand it?” asks Draco. “Did you even bother to look at it from his side? Just a few days ago he considered us all his enemies. You attacked him several times in the past and then the thing that happened at the Ministry. She killed his godfather! It is so hard to understand that he snapped? He probably thought that she is trying to kill you and tried to defend you the best way he could!” Draco looks accusingly at his Papa.

“Did you try to locate his heir rings?” Sev tries to get past his fear induced anger and come up with a solution. They need to find him fast.  _ God knows what can happen to him alone. I wouldn’t survive if anything happened to him! I need him! _ Since his talk with Lucius, he somehow started think of the boy as his. His to love, his to protect.

“Yes we did, but it did not help. We think he might be in some of the Order’s safe houses, that is hidden by Fidelius charm” explains Rodo.

“Of course! I know where he is!”

“Where?” Lucius jumps up. “You must take me to him, NOW!”

“Calm down you idiot, I can not tell you. Did you miss the part about the Fidelius charm? Stay here, I will bring him back, but you should go to sleep, I most probably won’t be able to convince him to come back immediately. I will send a Patronus when I find him.” 

 

Severus apparates to the Grimmauld place, he hopes that his instincts are right, because if Haddy isn’t here…. He strides into the house, careful not to wake the portrait of the Black matron and slowly makes his way to the kitchen. Luckily no Order members are present, but the eerie silence does not give him hope of finding the boy here.

The house elf appears in front of him “What can Kreacher do for Master potions?” he asks suspiciously, but politely. Sev was the only member of the Order to whom was the elf at least little bit polite. Probably because he remembered him as Reggie’s friend.

“Is Harry Potter, I mean Lord Black here?”

“Kreacher did not see anyone, he is alone. Finally the blood traitors and mudblood lovers left the glorious house of my poor mistress.” the elf replied with cunning light in his eyes.  _ I don’t believe him. If Haddy forbid him to reveal his presence, he would not betray him. He is bound to the House Black and Hadrian is his Lord. But where can the boy be? This house has too many bloody rooms to go one by one. Wait! I remember that during the summer the Weasley bitch complained that he locked himself in some of the higher floors. She always spent half of the meetings just on this topic, like we had no better thing to do than listening to her stupid complains. I bet he is there.  _ The Potions master turns around and starts to ascend the stairs.

“Where are you going? You can not be here!” the voice of the elf stops him.

“Why? Your master lend this house to the Order and I am its member, I have every right to be here.” The anger is apparent on the little being’s face, but he has no right to prevent Severus from going up, so he just turns around and continues. When he gets to the landing between third and fourth floor, he is suddenly stopped by an invisible wall. He examines the spell, but it does not look human made, probably a work of that elf. He knows that if it was the elf who put up this barrier he has no chance tearing it down. He is now fully convinced that Hadrian is here, hidden from him. He does not know what to do, so he just starts to shout:

“Hadrian! Hadrian answer me, I know you are here!” Nothing, not a sound, even the paintings on the walls are still asleep, or at least are pretending to be. “Hadrian let me in! I need to talk with you. Please?”

It is the please that did it, he can see a door on the his left slowly opening and little blond head sticking through.

“Go away! I won’t come back with you!” Haddy shouts back, tears obvious in his voice. “Come on sweetheart, let me in. I promise, I won’t force you go back. I came here to make sure you are okay, that no one hurt you. Please let me in.”

“Really? You won’t force me back?”

“I swear, what your Papa did was not okay. Trust me, I am very angry with him.” Hadrian stays quiet for a little while, obviously going through his options. In the end he decides to let him in. “Kreacher, please let him through.” he commands.

Sev can feel the invisible wall to disappear and quickly sends off the Patronus, then runs up the last of the steps. He goes straight for Haddy, hugging him and picking him up when the boy starts to cry again. “It is okay sweetheart, I’m here. I’m with you, I will never allow anyone to hurt you again.” He carries the boy inside Regulus old room, surprised to see, that the room was obviously inhabited before. So this is where he was hiding during the summer, hidden in the snake’s nest.

Hadrian continues to cry for at least fifteen minutes. At the end it is not Sev’s reassurances, but exhaustion that makes him quiet down a little. Severus lies them down on the bed and hugs him close, his hands rubbing his back “Tell me what happened love” he asks quietly.

“Didn’t you talk to Pa… Lucius?”

“I did, but I want to hear your version.”

“I was in my bed reading, when I heard a big bang and I went to look what happened. When I came into the room it was completely wrecked. There were some strange people in there. It was those death eaters who escaped from Azkaban last year. I saw her, Bellatrix holding Papa back. I thought, I thought she wants to hurt him, so I tried to protect him. I am not very good at offensive spells” he grumbles a little bit “so I….I used the only one I could think of. It was the killing curse” he finishes almost in whisper, his body trembling. Severus keeps rubbing his back, trying to coax what happened next from him. “Dad disarmed me, I did not know what was going on, when suddenly Papa grabbed my arm and started yelling at me and then, then he…” Haddy starts to cry again, feeling the betrayal of his Papa over and over again.

“Shhh my sweet, shhh. I am sorry you had to go through that. I know about your childhood and… and I know how it feels when your family is… is not treating you right. No one should go through that.” sadness is palpable in his voice.

Haddy suddenly remembers the few memories he saw during their occlumency lessons. He remembers a boy, crouching in a corner while a dark haired woman and man fought in front of him. He would never dare to ask about it before, but now he feels like he can, like Sev cares about him and won’t get mad.

“Did your family? I mean…” he does not know how to word it, but he does not have to, the older man understood.

“My father” he starts hesitantly, hating to even think about that man “was a drunk, he was a muggle. I don’t know how he made my mum marry him, she was powerful and from a good family, I still do not understand what she saw in him.” he goes quiet for a while, remembering Eileen how he remembers her from his childhood or from old photographs. She was always smiling, full of life, not the broken shell of a woman she became later.

“He was working in a factory and I don’t know why, but they kicked him out. The fights started after that, he got drunk and then started yelling at her that we have no money while her father is rich, if only she would go to him we could live in luxury. You see my mum was a proud woman, it is that pride that cost her life…”

Haddy has troubles breathing how hard he tries to keep tears at bay.  _ Sev did not deserve the life he had, he had horrible homelife and once he’d got to school he was bullied by those Marauders pricks. I swear, I will do anything to make you happy my love, _ he thinks,  _ if I could turn back time, I would kill anyone who ever hurt you, tortured them for years before releasing them to their death. _

Haddy gently cups his cheek: “What happened to her?”

Sev’s voice is almost emotionless when he explains: “He killed her. After I started Hogwarts,  he started drinking even more and he started to beat us, he hated all magic and forbid her from performing any spells. She had two jobs and had to care take of me and him and the house. Half of the things could be done by magic, but that, that arsehole started beating her everytime he caught her. In the end she was so scared to use her wand, she did not want to use it even to heal herself. They told me that she fell down the stairs… but we all know that is what they always say, I know it was him! She had some internal injuries, but she did not even try to heal herself and he refused to take her to see a doctor. I... I just got a letter from an attorney…”

Haddy just looks at him, expecting to see tears, but there are no tears just this resignation and acceptance. The defeated expression breaks his heart more than any hysterical outburst ever could. He wraps his hands around his neck, squeezing him as hard as he can, whispering sorries into his ear.

It takes a while, but in the end Sev hugs him back.

“Thank you Haddy, I did not talk about it for years. Thank you for listening.”

“Anytime… anything Sev! You know I lov…”

“Yes, I know.” he admits with a little smile and places a finger of the younger man’s lips.

 

They stay like that for a while, just laying in that old, big house, taking comfort in each other. It is Sev who breaks the silence.

“You know that your Papa didn’t mean to hurt you. He is nothing like them. He loves you very much and he feels very guilty about what he did. He was crying the whole time, fearing you will never forgive him.”

“Really?” the boy looks at him with big, trusting eyes.

“Yes, he was very distraught and he regrets the yelling and beating very much. He fears you will never want to see him again.”

“I… It didn’t hurt, it was not a strong beating, I was just so afraid. I can not go through the same as with Dursleys again, I would rather kill myself! They, I mean they did beat me , but that was not the worst part of it. They basically made me their slave since I was a little boy. I did not have my own room, I had to cook and clean all day. I just… I felt so humiliated! Like a worthless little piece of shit. That’s how my uncle used to call me” he laughs self deprecatingly “Do you know that I first time I learned my name was at school? They never called me by my name, always boy or by an insult. That feeling, that powerlessness was the only thing I could think of when Papa threw me out of that room like a piece of rag.”

“I know love, I know. But your Papa is not like those horrible muggles, he would never truly hurt you. He loves you too much, he was just scared, scared that you would use such a curse and be taken away from him again. I swear to you. And should he ever hurt you like that again? I will personally kill him and not just me, but Draco as well. He was furious at him.”

“Really? Thank you Severus” Haddy kisses his chin. He knew what the older man said is the truth, he can tell when someone is lying and he knows Papa, Dad and Draco never lied about their feelings. Despite that, he does not feel ready to come back home just yet. He likes this house, his house, especially when the Order members are not there. It makes him feel safe, a place just for him, place where no one can see him, hurt him...

“Must we return now?”

“No, we can sleep here. Let it be your father’s punishment. Can I stay here with you?”

“Yes, please stay.” Severus changes their clothes into comfortable black pyjamas and snuggles the boy closer.

“Good night Haddy” he kisses him on the crown of his head, the boy already asleep.


	15. Lysander

Severus wakes up in the morning wrapped around a small body.  _ Oh, how I wish I could wake up like this every day. _ He looks down and notices Haddy watching him.

“Good morning” he gives him a small kiss on the tip of his nose. He is opening his arms and moving away when Haddy grabs him and clumsily kisses him on mouth. Sev stays still, completely shocked. When he finally comes to his senses he quickly pulls away. “Haddy we can’t!”

“You don’t want me? I knew a man like you could never want someone like me.” Haddy says sadly and goes to stand from the bed. Severus quickly pulls him back to his chest and confesses: “I want you very much, my sweet little Haddy. I want you like no one else in my life.”

“Really? Than why? Why didn’t you kiss me back? Do I have a stinky breath or something? Because that’s not fair you know, everybody has in the morning!” the boy puffs up, reminding him of an angry little kitten. 

Severus can’t help himself and laughs “Oh no, kitten. It’s not that. You are too young for that. I promised to your Papa that I will wait until you are seventeen. That is when we will know, whether I am really your mate or not.”

Haddy looks surprised “You talked to Papa about it? Oh, that must have been an interesting conversation” he says teasingly.

“You can’t even imagine! He threatened to cut of my prick and feed it to me if I ever hurt you!” Haddy starts to giggle until tears start streaming down his face. “Oh you like that? You little sadist! Come on, up with you it is time to return back to the Manor.”

“Noo, lets sleep little bit more” pouts Haddy and snuggles closer to Sev. “I like this house, it is all mine no one else's. I just wish the Order did not take it over.”

“If you stand up now and return to the Mansion with me, I promise I will help you figure out how can we get rid of them” promises Sev.

“Really? Then let's go!” Haddy jumps out of the bed ready to go this very moment. Severus just laughs at his sudden enthusiasm, following him to the fireplace and calling the Floo of the Malfoy Manor.

 

Lucius stayed in the floo room the whole night, refusing every attempt of his mate to take him to bed.  _ How could he think I would be able to sleep? My angel is somewhere out there, probably hurt and it is all my fault.  _ He calmed a little when Sev’s Patronus appeared, but he decided not to leave the room until his son is safely back in his arms. The house elves brought him some food, but he is not hungry, he is just staring into the hearth wishing for the flames to go green. 

It is almost nine in the morning when the floo suddenly glows and Haddy walks in. Luc does not hesitate for a second, grabs him into his arms and starts to apologizing.

“I’m so sorry my angel, please forgive me.”

“It is okay Papa, Sev explained your side of it. I know you were just afraid for me. I know you would never hurt me like them.”

“Oh angel.” Lucius turns around, carrying his son into his office, completely ignoring Severus’ glare.

 

He walks them into the room and locks the door, no one will be able to get in or listen on the things they need to discuss. He sits down in his chair, placing Haddy into his lap, facing him.

“It is not okay angel. It is never okay for anyone to hurt you like that. Even if it is a small slap, you have the right to defend yourself, to be angry, furious with me. I was supposed to protect you, not hurt you. No parent should beat their child” Lucius tries to convince him, tears shining in his silver eyes.

“Oh Papa, don’t cry. I forgive you, I know you were just afraid!” he tries to reassure him.

“Thank you my love, I couldn’t live with myself if I lost you again. Please promise me you will never run away like that, rather curse me, but do not run. I was so scared! I thought you were kidnapped again.”

“I promise! You will never lose me again. I will always be with you. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Lucius hugs him tightly. “Where did you go?”

“I went to …” Haddy tries to tell him he went to the old Black house, but he can’t get the words through his throat. “I, can not tell you! I want to, but it seems like some kind of charm prevents it!”

“It is probably a Fidelius charm. We tried to locate you through your heir rings, but the spell did not work. The only magic that can do that is Fidelius. Only the castor of the spell is able to reveal the location of the place hidden by this charm.”

Haddy frowns “Does it mean I can never show you my... the place where I went?”

“There is a way around it. The owner has a way how to tell someone where the place is. But the person needs to own the place.”

“Really? That is great! I am the owner, I will take you there!”

“Thank you angel. Tell me, were you alone there? Were you safe? Did anyone see you?” Lucius cannot help himself, he is very worried. What if someone from the Order saw Haddy? He or she would report to Dumbledore and he would guess within seconds that his precious saviour is hidden in the Malfoy manor.

“No, don’t worry, no one except Sev and the house elf knows I was there and they won’t tell anyone. They protected me. Sev even slept in my bed to make sure I was okay.” Haddy shares, seemingly innocent. In truth, he wants to see his Papa’s reaction to the revelation, he wants to see with his own eyes, if his parents will accept his love for the older man.

“He did what?” Lucius exclaims, anger evident in his eyes. “What did he do? Did he touch you? I will kill him!”

“No Papa! Calm down! It was not like that, we just slept in the same bed, nothing more. Except when…”

“Except when what? You can tell me, I promise I won’t be angry with you” he can’t promise the same about Severus.

“I… I kissed him, on mouth.” Haddy admits sheepishly.

“And what did he do?”

“He pushed me away, he told me that you made him promise not to touch me until I am an adult, but that he wants me. Papa I love him! I had the biggest crush on him even when he was mean to me, but this year, this year his attitude to me changed, even when he still thought I was Harry Potter! And now I know I am in love with him, that I will love him forever. I think he is my mate.”

Lucius doesn’t know what to say to that. He has the same suspicion about the identity of his angel’s mate. They are just so different, Sev is always so serious, even when he was a teenager he was like that and Haddy is always smiling, always throwing himself towards the danger, always trusting… But maybe it won’t be so bad if they would end up being mates after all, they would balance each other.

“Haddy, if Severus is indeed your mate, I won’t stand in the way of your happiness, but”

“Thank you Papa!” Haddy throws himself around his neck, but Luc pushes him away so he can look him in the eyes and continues. “But, you need to know I made Sev promise me, that you won’t do anything until you’re an adult.”

“I know, he told me about it. He even told me how you threatened him if he ever hurts me” he giggles at the memory.

Lucius laughs too “And I will keep my promise, I swear if he ever hurts you I will cut off his ...” the next words are muffled by Haddy’s palm across his mouth.

“Thank you Papa, but I don’t need to hear the details again!”

Lucius smiles and teasingly continues “Tell me angel, was that your first kiss?”

“Papa! You can not ask me that! That is not something a parent can ask!”

“Why not? Draco told me about his. I want you to trust me, I want you to be comfortable to share anything with me and the first kiss is very important! You want to hear about mine first?”

That gets Haddy’s attention “You would tell me?” Lucius nods. 

“But you won’t like it very much. It was when I was thirteen, it was on some party my parents organized. I was allowed to invite my school mates. We soon found the whole party boring so we sneaked out and closed in my rooms. I don’t know who got that brilliant idea, probably Rab, that little shit, but we started to play truth or dare. I was challenged to spend seven minutes in heaven with a person chosen by a turn of a bottle. Do you know that game?” Haddy nods, he saw some people play it the the Common room, the couples that had to be locked in the closest dorm room.

“The bottle picked a boy from my class and we were locked in my closet for seven minutes. The first five was the most awkward time in my life. We just stared at each other, completely frightened. Than he just grabbed me and smashed his mouth against mine. It was the first kiss for both of us, so you can imagine it was not very good. I hope for your sake he got better throughout the years. I know he had a lot of practice since then” Lucius smiles teasingly and waits until comprehension appears in his younger’s eyes.

“For my sake? Why?... Was it, was it Sev?! You had your first kiss with my mate?!”  _ Oh my god! How fucking awkward is that! My father kissed my mate! How I’m gonna look him in the eyes again? _

“Was he your first too?”  _ Oh my god, that sounds soo wrong. _

“NO! He was not! Just my, my second” they both start to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. “The first one was one girl from Ravenclaw, Cho Chang. She kissed me last year right before Christmas break. I did not like it at all, bleh, there was spit everywhere!”

“Oh my innocent angel, never change” Lucius laughs and tries to hug him.

“Don’t laugh at me! I was completely taken of my guard when she did it! I did not know what to do! And with Sev it was not even a real kiss, I just pressed my mouth against his and held it there. How can I learn how to kiss properly, if you forbid him from touching me?”

“That is what brothers are for no?” with that Lucius stands up, lifting the flabbergasted Haddy with him and nonchalantly strides out of the room: “Let’s join the others for late breakfast, I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.” He continues to carry his son, silently laughing in his head and pretending not to see his disbelieving expression. _ He looks like a fish with his mouth open like that, hehe. _

 

“Haddy!” Draco exclaims the moment he sees his twin. He grabs him and starts to shake him yelling: “Are you fucking insane?! You can’t run away!”

“Language Draco!” yell all three of their parents.

“Sorry” he hangs his head “but he can not run away like that!”

“I’m sorry I scared you Drake, I promise I won’t do it again, okay?” Haddy hugs him. Draco huffs, but relents quickly: “Okay, come I left you some pancakes even if you don’t deserve them. Mama? Will we go to Paris today or not?” 

“I’m not sure sweetheart, we have guests after all, we can go next weekend. Come here Haddy, I will properly introduce you.” Haddy slowly walks to the table and then just stand there nervously. He does not know how to act, he knows them, knows their faces and names, but he also knows what crimes they did. It was easy to forget that his parents were the “bad guys”, but these? All he can think of is Neville and his parents. He is finally released after a very awkward introduction and have the promised pancakes. He tries to hide behind his brother, so he does not have to talk to them. Everytime he is asked something he just grunts or uses monosyllabic answers until Tom had enough:

“Hadrian! You are being rude! These are my friends and you are acting like you were raised in a stable! Apologize!”

“Apologize? I should apologize? You know who this people are? What they did? They tortured people! They tortured innocent people until they went mad, my friend’s parents!”

“Boy? How do you know they were innocent?” asks Rodo “I am not saying we did not do it, we did and I will never regret it, they deserved it! They deserved every second of their suffering!”

“How can you say that? No one deserves that!”

“And what would you do if someone stole your child?” asks Bellatrix very quietly, clutching her husband’s hand.

“Why would they steal your child, they had their own. He is my friend Neville… You mean to tell me that Neville is your child? Why would they do that?”

It is Lucius who answers: “We believe that this is another part of Dumbledore’s plan. He wanted to get rid of his opposition, so he created Voldemort, but he needed someone who will get rid of him when he is no longer needed. So he created the prophecy of a child born as the seventh month dies, that has the power to stop him. I think taking Lysander was just an idea, he was supposed to be a backup in case something happened to you. Plus he knew, that taking both of you will weaken us even more. You know, if something happened to me and your father, it would be Rodo who would lead the so called Dark faction.”

“So you think Neville is your Lysander? How do you know?”

“When they kidnapped him, they left a small strand of hair behind them. Those hairs belonged to Frank Longbottom. We found them in hand of the house elf they killed. She was Lys’ nanny, she was in the family for decades, she used to be my nanny too.” the sadness at the loss of the elf is clearly visible on his face. 

His brother finishes the story: “It took us quite a long time to find who’s hair it was, but we eventually went to the Longbottom’s house and we found him. Yes, we tortured them and we did enjoy it, but it was not that long, I really don’t think it could cause the madness you mentioned… If we could we would torture them much longer, if it would be on me, I would have them locked away in dungeons for weeks, months even. No one has the right to steal a child! To taint that moment of joy and turn it into a tragedy. Unfortunately we were interrupted. The house was stormed by a team of aurors led by Dumbledore, soon we were locked in Azkaban.”

“But why didn’t you tell Neville? He has a right to know!”

“It was me” admits Bella “it was me who did not want to tell him. I don’t want him to think his parents are bad people, I want him to think of them as heroes  And if the price is, that I will never be able to hold him, I will pay the price.”

“That is utter bullshit! You can’t do that!”

“Draco! How many times do I have to tell you that a gentleman does not use that kind of language!”

“Sorry Papa, it just slipped out. But really, how can you think that he would rather have a memory than real parents who love him and talk to him? You can’t leave it like that!”

“Yeah, I agree with Draco. I know Neville would like to know the truth. He can handle it. He is very kind and strong person. Plus, I really think he needs to undergo the purge I went through at Gringotts. It looks like there are some limits put on his magic, it is very weak.”

“Nonsense! My Lys was born with extraordinarily strong magical core!”

“Haddy is right, his magic is unstable. I think we need to take him from school as soon as possible. Papa is Sev coming here with Luna in the afternoon? Can he bring Neville too?”

“I can floo him and explain, I can not guarantee he will be able to. I’m sure Dumbledore increased his security after Haddy’s disappearance.”

“NO! YOU CAN’T BRING HIM HERE!” Bella protests. “I am not ready! I can not show myself to him like this!”

“Calm down sister. We still have few hours left. I will help you prepare, I swear I will. We will pick you some nice dress, you will have a relaxing bath and I even have a very skillful elf, that can fix the bird’s nest on your head. And you too boys!” the look she throws the other four visitors shows, that she won’t accept any excuses. Rodo is secretly thrilled he will finally meet his boy. He did not agree with Bella’s opinion, but he did not want to disagree and add more concerns to his beloved wife. He was crushed when he found out that his heir was raised as a Longbottom, his boy deserved much better that that old hag as a grandmother.

They made mistakes, he sees that now. When Barty finally identified the hair as Longbottom’s he did not think, he just grabbed those that were near him and ran for his son. It was truly a beautiful trap and he never saw it coming.


	16. Neville's bad day

The twins left the adults as soon as they could, the tension emanating from the Lestranges was almost palpable and it made them very uncomfortable.

So they ran and hid in Draco’s room, they had a lot to catch up on. “How was school? Did you miss me terribly?” Haddy teases.

“Don’t make fun of it dickhead! I really did!”

“Oh Draco, I missed you too. Mama and Dad were drilling me the whole week, if I did not have a lesson on how to behave like a proper pureblood, I was with Dad training. I’m so tired I could sleep a week away.”

“Really you trained with dad? I’m so jealous, you were learning some wicked spells, while I was sleeping in History and trying to change a bird into a cup of water. Also all the girls in our school went completely batshit crazy! They are all reading that stupid book, that Pansy got from Luna. God forbid any vampire shows up near the school, he would be run to death by those crazy hags! Every single one of them wants to have a vampire as a boyfriend, like there is anything hot about suckig blood!” Draco exclaims, still baffled about the whole thing.

“Haha, poor Draco. Your fangirls are not swooning around you anymore? You poor thing, what you’re gonna do with all that spare time?” Haddy sticks his tongue out.

“Like I care about them.” he sorts disdainfully, even if he must admit, even just to himself that it bothered him a bit, but just a little bit! “Don’t you worry little brother, I had my hands full, I was developing an awesome revenge plan for you! I even got Severus to help me with faze one.”

“Revenge? On whom?”

“The Weasel obviously. I won’t let him get away with hurting you. I devised a plan, but had to make sure no one knows it was me doing it, I did not want to expose you or our relationship. I’m planning to make his life a living hell.”

“Uuuu, can I help?”

“Sure, we need to figure out faze two.”

“And what was the first one?”

“Think, what does he like the most?”

“Hmmm I don’t know, his family? Hermione? Oh, I know food! He always eats for three and like a pig!”

“Exactly, so I convinced Sev to help me. He made some potion and even got his own house elf to put it in his food. During the dinner on Wednesday, he started to eat, but suddenly turned green. The mudblood and that slut his sister went to take him to the infirmary, but before they got out of the Great Hall he… imagine this. HE SHAT HIMSELF! He just shat himself in front of the whole school!” they both start to laugh hysterically at that mental picture, tears streaming down their identical faces.

“He deserves that!” Haddy laughs “oh, how I wish I was there to see it! You need to show me the memory!” Draco agreed and they went to take the Pensieve from Papa’s office. They settled back on bed with it and watched the memory at least five times, still laughing at Ron’s expression as he ‘released the flow’.

 

They lay on the bed and Haddy keeps thinking of Papa’s proposal how to learn to kiss better. “Draco? I need to tell you something. I kissed Severus last night, I think he is my mate.”

“Really? Did you like it? How did he react?” Draco asks excitedly.

“He pushed me away, he said he promised Papa, that he won’t touch me till I’m an adult.” Haddy frowns “It is not even a full year, what difference does it make? I know I love him and want to be with him.”

“Did you think that maybe Papa did it to protect Severus?” Draco starts carefully.

“Severus? Why?”

“Think about it Haddy, if he allowed you to be with him now, he would be head over heels about you when we’re seventeen. I know you think that he is your mate, but what if he isn’t? You would have your mate, would be happy with him or her, but Sev, I really don’t think he would be able to get past that that easily. I think Papa is just trying to protect him, he is his best friend after all.”

“But I am sure he is my mate!”

“Do you want to risk it? Is it really so hard to keep away from him?”

“No, I don’t. But I’m so bloody horny all the time and I don’t know how to kiss! I just smashed my mouth against his and hoped he will start.” Haddy admits pouting adorably.  _ Maybe Draco will teach me how to kiss if he sees how clueless I am…. I know that wanting your own brother is wrong, but I really want him! AND! Papa basically told me it is fine. _

Draco is just lying there smiling at him, so Haddy needs to take things into his own hands, he quickly smashes his mouth against Draco’s, but remembers his kiss with Cho and tries to stick his tongue into his brother mount. Draco gently stops him by laying hand on his cheek. “Slow down Haddy, relax, I will take care of you.” he slowly turns them, Haddy is laying on his back, Draco braced on top of him. He starts to gently nibble on his lips, just warming them up, making Hadrian’s mouth tingle. Then he slowly coaxes him to open his mouth, liking inside and putting small kisses on the corners of his lips. It takes several minutes until he deems his little brother ready, only after that he allows the kiss to deepen.

Hadrian has trouble breathing, but he does not care one bit. Draco’s mouth on his, his tongue mapping every crevice of his mouth makes him feel like he is in heaven. He would be content to die like this. He puts his legs around Draco’s waist and smashes their erections together. The moaning after that is especially loud and they slowly start to rub against each other. Draco is trying to be gentle, not to overwhelm him, but Haddy has head of his own. He tries to flip them over several times, but is lacking the strength to move his brother’s heavier body. He huffs frustrated at his unsuccessful attempts, but Draco just laughs and rolls them over. He lies on his back and puts his hands behind his head.

“Explore Haddy, my body is yours” he winks and smirks.

Haddy does not hesitate, he mashes their erections together and starts to rub himself against his twin. He is undulating his hips and moaning, not even realizing how hot he looks. Draco can not resist, he grabs his brother by his hair and pulls him down into a kiss. He starts to move quicker, chasing his orgasm, making sure his brother enjoys it as well. Haddy is out of his mind, nothing felt this good before, he just brackets Drake’s head between his elbow and let himself be manipulated. Draco is holding off the orgasm by sheer force of will, he grabs his brother’s ass and thrusts and thrusts as hard as he can, luckily this drives Haddy finally over the edge and he can too find his release.

 

For few minutes, Haddy just lies there enjoying the afterglow of the best orgasm he ever had, however slowly the doubts start to crawl in. _ What did we do? It is so fucking wrong! What if someone will find out? What if Sev will find out and won’t want me anymore?  _ Draco can see the sudden frown of his face: “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? What we just did was wrong, we’re brothers! Brothers do not fuck, it is forbidden!” Haddy explains, getting more worked up by the second. He tries to jump out of the bed, but Draco grabs his arm and drags him back. He forces him to look him in the eyes and says: “I don’t know where you’ve got this stupid idea, but it’s not true. It is part of our veela heritage, you see pure veelas live separately from wizards in family communities. They do not leave them till they are seventeen and go look for their mates. Close intimate relationships between family are quite common and actually encouraged, because they strengthen the familial bond. The only thing frowned upon is having a baby with your relative to ensure no defects in the genetic pool will be strengthened, but even that isn’t that uncommon.”

Haddy thinks about if for a while, remembering the relationship between Fleur Delacour and her younger sister, how they clung together after he rescued Gabrielle from the Lake. Was it possible that there was more between them than sibling love?

“So what you’re saying it is natural for a veela to be with his sibling? But what about the others? What when we’re in public?”

“Depends who is around us, if we would kiss for example in Slytherin common room, no one would bat an eye. What I said about veelas is true about most magical beings and all the purebloods have strong creature inheritance. On the other hand, I have no idea how the muggleborns or muggle-raised would take it.”

“I can tell you, they wouldn’t. Incest is a great taboo in muggle society, they would not understand.” he is quiet for a little while, feeling reassured by Draco’s explanation. A sudden thought strike’s him:  “Soooo, you think this is the reason why Papa always wanted a sibling? You should have seen the look he was giving to Luna’s father.”

“Ewww Haddy! Why did you bring that up when we’re both covered in cum? Parent’s sexual preferences should not be discussed right after sex! Or ever!” Draco scrunches his pointy nose adorably and pouts. Haddy can not resist and kisses him again. If he could, he would spend the whole day just kissing Draco. He would kiss him until he would ran out of breath and pass out.

“Oh my god, I created a monster!” Draco teases “Come on little brother, we can continue in the shower, we must start to prepare when Luna and Lysander will be here. I can not wait to see how things will go. I can’t imagine Longbottom being Bella and Rodo’s son. They are so different!”

 

“Sit down Bella! I’m getting dizzy from all that pacing. We need to finish soon.” Bella reluctantly sits down, still full of nervous energy. Cissa basically manhandled her into a bath full of relaxing oil, but it did nothing for her nerves. She will finally see him, maybe he’ll even let her hold him! The only time she was able to see him was at the Ministry of Magic, but there was not much time to have a proper look. She did not want to draw his attention, afraid he would see the love shining through her eyes. It would be apparent for anyone who would bother to take closer look, even though she was not completely okay, still feeling the remnants of Azkaban in her head.

It was that situation, that finally pushed her to seek a help of a mind healer. She wanted to be a person to be proud of even if her son wasn’t supposed to know his true parentage. Both Rodo and she where seeing a healer almost everyday and even if she did not believe in it at first, she could see the progress they’ve both made. Before, they both suffered from quite violent nightmares, which prevented them from sleeping in the same bed, but now...now there are less and less nightmares and they share a bed again. They were not intimate yet, but she had a feeling it would change soon. She longed for more kids, she always wanted at least five, she even had names picked since she was a little girl, but with Dumbledore’s threat it seemed impossible.  _ Oh, why won’t he die already! The old fucker! _

Her thoughts were interrupted by Cissa snapping her fingers in front of her face. “Wake up, Sis! Look at this dress I picked for you, do you like them?” Bella and Cissa were always obsessed with dresses and fashion, well Bella not so much anymore, but she could not help but sigh when she spotted the beautiful dress presented by her younger sister. They were made of the lightest green silk, looking like they were made from a sea foam.

“They will go beautifully with your dark hair and eyes, what do you think?”

“I think that Rodo won’t know what hit him this night” they both start cackling like when they were young and read their first erotic novel together.

“What shall we do with your hair, dear sister? Do you want to wear a braid? You would look like a young girl again. Or straighten them perhaps?”

“Hmm, I think I would prefer straightening, I did  not wear my hair like that for sixteen years and I always loved it.” Narcissa just smiles fondly at her dear sister. She would do anything to see her happy again, she missed her terribly. “Straightening it is.”

 

This was not Neville’s day, hell it wasn’t even his week. Someone or something really pissed of the dungeon bat and he was taking it out on all the Gryffindor students. They already lost four hundred points because of him this week, some of them because of completely ridiculous things like breathing too loudly (Seamus) or walking too cheerily (the Creevey brothers).

What is even worse, his best friend disappeared more than a week ago and no one seems to be bothered. The headmaster explained that he had to leave to get better training now when everybody knew the Dark Lord is back, but Nev is not buying it, he saw the fight between Harry and Ron, he saw the betrayal on Harry’s face when he ran from the room. He never returned back and most of his things just disappeared.

Yes, his trunk, books and some of the clothes remained, but most of  his personal things were not there anymore. Nev really missed Harry, he and Luna were his only friends, the others just ignored him. Ron and Hermione didn’t even say hello back when he greeted them, it is like he is invisible. The only person he has left is Luna. Sweet, little barmy Luna. He would go completely mental without her. The only shame is, she is not in his house or at least a year, so they don’t have any classes together. Right now he would need some support, his ‘favorite’ class just began - DADA with the greasy git.

He stormed into the class, cheerful as always and the students automatically quieted. He was the only teacher except maybe McGonagall who could do that.

“In the past few lessons, we revised the spells you were suppose to know by now. Today we will take it to another level. I really doubt anyone of you dunderheads will manage it” Neville can see Hermione leaning forward, practically lying on the desk as she gives Snape her full attention. It is clear she took his words as a challenge and is ready to prove him wrong. “but we will still start with non-verbal spells. Longbottom! Why is learning to cast spells non-verbally so important?” Nev takes a deep breath, glad the question is not hard, but before he can utter one word he is interrupted by the Know-it-all: “Casting spells non-verbally gives you an advantage in a duel, because your opponent does not know what spell you used and it is harder for him to shield himself.”

“Twenty points from Gryffindor for talking out of your turn and ten for interrupting a classmate! How many times do I have to punish you for that you stupid girl?! Do your overly frizzy hair impact your hearing? Maybe I should shave your head?!”

“Hey!” Weasley comes to her help, only to enrage the professor even more.

“Hey? Hey? How dare you! Fifty points for lack of manners and respect! Get out of my class immediately! Both of you, I have no patience today for misbehaving brats. You have zero for today’s assignment and I want to see fifteen inches long paper on importance of non-verbal spells by the end of the day. And if it is anything less than perfect I will take another hundred points! Get out!” Ron looks really pissed, but does not have the guts to say anything else.  _ Maybe he is not as stupid as I thought. _ thinks Neville meanly, he really does not like the ginger haired boy or the Know-it-all, who runs from the room with tears streaming down her face. They are both bad friends to Harry, they always were like that. Always preening around the school as if they are untouchable, the best friends of the Boy Who Lived. If they would be at least good friends for him, Neville would be probably able to overlook it, but they were not and the last fight before Harry’s disappearance proved it.

The lesson continued with short explanation, but soon moved to the practical part. Snape was right, none of his classmate managed to cast the spell non-verbally, even if some of them cheated and tried to murmur the word under their breath. He was completely beat at the end, wanting nothing more than go for lunch and stuff his face with something sweet. He was stopped by the cold voice of the resident potions master before he could leave the classroom:

“Longbottom! Come to my office today at 2:00 PM sharp. Tell no one about it!” Neville wanted to ask why, but the look on the older man’s face stopped him, so he just nodded in acknowledged and hoped the professor won’t kill him and use him as an ingredient in some horrible potion.

 

Neville feels much better after the lunch. He knows he should feel guilty about eating eight pancakes with chocolate syrup, but he doesn’t. He was always a stress eater and he has a very good reason to be stressed today. His meeting with the most dreaded professor starts in few minutes, so he slowly starts to descend the stairs to the dungeons.

When he can not postpone it any longer, god forbid he would be late, he knocks on the door. To his surprise there are two people in the room - Snape and Luna.

“Luna? What are you doing here? Do you have a detention as well?” asks surprised Nev.

“Silence! I don’t have the time to listen to your meaningless chit chat! We must leave soon.” Snape interrupts them.

“Leaving? Where are we going?” questions Nev, completely confused.

“You will see when we get there”

“NO! I’m not leaving with you unless you tell me where are we going and why!” Severus just sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Insolent child! Very well, we are going to meet with Potter, satisfied?”

“Harry? We are going to see Harry? What are we waiting for, let’s go!” Nev yells excitedly and starts towards the fireplace. Severus just sighs again, cursing foolish loyal Gryffindors in his head and takes the Floo powder from his hand. “Hold onto me and don’t let go.”

 

They step out of a fireplace in a mess of limbs and almost end up sprawled on the carpet. They are in a lavishly decorated room which makes Neville suspicious: “Why would be Harry training in place like this?”

Before he gets an answer, the door near to him slam open and in runs a very short, very blond boy. The boy runs directly at them and grabs both Nev and Luna around their necks:

“Neville, Luna!” he yells straight into their ears, making them cringe a little. “I missed you so much! Thank you Sev for bringing them here!” Neville is completely confused, he has no idea who this boy is or where they are. He goes to push him away and demand answers, but is stopped by the deep voice of his Potions professor:

“Sweetheart, aren’t you forgetting something? Where is your bracelet?”

“Oooh, right! I forgot it in my room, I’ll be right back!” With that he turns around, prepared to run upstairs, but the doors are blocked by none other than Draco Malfoy. 

“I have it here little brother, here you go.” he says to the strange boy.

“Thank you Draco, you’re the best!” he kisses him on cheek and grabs the trinket. He slips it on his left arm and suddenly turns into Harry.

“Harry!” cries Luna and goes to hug him, only to be stopped by Neville, who is eying the boy suspiciously.

“Wait! How do we know you’re the real Harry Potter? You could be anyone! We are apparently in Malfoy’s house and we all know they are dark!”

“You don’t believe me? I’m me! Harry, your friend!” the boy looks very hurt. The potion master storms around them and hugs the frowning boy.

“Don’t be sad, little kitten. Think about it from their perspective. I think it is very smart of them not to believe you. It seems they are not as stupid as I thought:” he smirks.

“Hey! They are very smart! They are my friends! But how can I convince them that I am really me?” the boy pouts adorably.

“Hmm, how about telling them something only Harry Potter and they know?”

“Yes! You are right” Haddy wiggles out of Sev’s grip and stands in front of Neville.

“I remember when we first met Luna, it was the beginning of our fifth year on the Hogwarts Express. She was sitting alone in a compartment when me, you and Ginny asked if we can join. You got Mimbulus Mimbletonia for birthday that year. You tried to show me what it does and it covered us all in this green puss, it was really nasty!” Haddy laughs at the memory.

Neville grabs him around the neck and squeezes hard. “Harry! We missed you so much! I was so worried about you! The headmaster told everyone you had to leave to train how to defeat You-know-who, but I did not believe him! What are you doing here and why did you look differently?”

They sit down and Harry explains what happened, how he found out who he really is and that the old goat is a lying liar who lies. He took the bracelet of again, he did not feel right in his old looks anymore and explained how he found out that Luna is actually his cousin. He contemplates leaving the explanation of Neville’s true parentage to someone else, but in the end he decides that it would be best coming from someone who the boy trusts. 

“I need to speak with Neville alone, would you mind leaving us here?” he asks the others.

“Sure thing brother, come on little cousin, your father is here, I will take you to him.” concedes Draco and leads Luna and Severus out of the room to the sitting room where the adults are gathered.

 

“Listen Nev, I know what I’m about to tell you will be hard, but please let me finish before you do anything rash.”

“Okay Harry, egh Haddy. I promise.” Neville says with cold feeling inside his belly. Was it something about his parents? Is Harry now allied with people who drove them mad?

“Few days ago we got some visitors here. It was people you know as the Death Eaters who harmed your parents.” Haddy squeezes his hands in comfort. “I got into argument with them, blaming them for the things they’ve done especially to your parents. I did not understand how my parents could be friends with such a vile people.” Neville is suddenly very afraid, were they still here? Would Bellatrix Lestrange suddenly come and try to kill him? His heart rate speeds up and he is almost hyperventilating.

“Shhh, calm down Nev, they won’t hurt you, they would never do that. The truth is they would protect you with their lives, you see the Lestranges had a son, Lysander, born approximately when I was. One night when he was just few days old someone broke into their home, kidnapped their son and killed the house elf that was supposed to protect him. The person who did it was Frank Longbottom.” 

“NO! I don’t believe you! My father was an auror, a hero! He would never kidnap a child!” he exclaims, refusing to believe such lies.

“I know! I know it seems like a lie, but it is the truth I swear! They went to Longbottom’s house to retrieve him, but were attacked by Dumbledore and a group of aurors. They were locked in Azkaban ever since. Neville, you are the son, you are their Lysander” finishes Haddy quietly, worriedly studying his friend’s face.

Neville just sits there, completely numb.  _ How can that be the truth? How can I be the son of people who I hated all my life? The people who were the cause of my miserable childhood with no parents, extremely strict and cold grandmother and an abusive uncle? I don’t believe it! I can’t! _

Someone is shaking his arm, someone...Harry is talking to him: “Shh Nev. Everything is going to be alright. I know it is a lot to take in, but you must believe me. We can go to Gringotts and you can take your Inheritance test as I did. It will be a proof….” 

That breaks Nev from his shock. “Yes, yes we need to go to Gringotts, I need to see the truth. Let’s go right now.” he stands up, dragging Haddy to the Floo.

“Wait, wait! We can’t go alone! We need an adult to escort us!”

“But who? I’m sorry, but I really don’t feel comfortable going with your parents or Snape.”

Haddy thinks a little: “How about Luna’s father?”

Neville just nods and Haddy summons a house elf to call his uncle there. Soon the three of them are leaving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any ideas how they can prank the Weasel more?


	17. Peacock celebration

Severus walks into the sitting room full of clearly agitated adults. Bella is pacing like crazy in fron’t of the windows, while her husband is attacking a giant chocolate cake with the biggest spoon the house elves could find. They knew he is a stress eater, so they prepared the cake just for him. When he spots Severus in the door he almost chokes on the big piece in his mouth and asks: “Ih e, hee?”

“I presume you wanted to ask whether I’ve got your son here” Severus asks amused at his friend’s state, the last time he saw him this agitated was when Bella was in labour. Rodo quickly nods.

“Yes, he is here. Haddy thought it would be best if he as his friend would explain what happened.”

“So you are Nev’s real parents? You certainly eat like him when is is stressed. He ate 8 pancakes with chocolate syrup at lunch today!” pipes in the little blond girl who followed Sev into the room.

“Luna!” her father grabs her around waist and hugs her. “How have you been, baby girl?”

“Daddy!” she hugs him back! “I finally got to the end of the vampire history book you borrowed me!” there is a smack heard in the background (Draco facepalming). “I showed it to the other girls at school and they like it very much, we agreed that if our parents will allow it, we would want to go to America this summer and try to find this clan!”

“Merlin’s pants Luna! How many times do I need to explain this! IT IS A FICTION! IT IS NOT REAL!” Draco can’t hold back anymore.

“You are just jealous because the Slytherin girls like Edward more than you now!” Luna retorts back.

“Children! Cease this bickering of yours, this is no time nor place for it!” Lucius interrupts them to avoid full blown argument. He saw the determined look in his Draco’s eyes.

“Hello Luna, I am your Uncle Luc.” Luna frees herself from her father’s embrace and goes to give him a hug. Lucius looks little surprised at that, but gladly hugs her back. “Let me introduce you to others.” He goes around, introducing each of them.

“Tell me, how did you know we are Neville’s parents?” asks confused Rodo after the introductions are done.

“The wrackspurts told me” smiles Luna, everybody looking at her like she is crazy.

“Wrackspurts? What the hell are wrackspurts?” He looks confused at Draco and Severus, who are trying to mimic not to ask. Luna’s father tries to explain: “My Luna inherited some of her mother’s seer abilities, she just knows some things.”

“You are a seer? Can you tell us if Lysander will accept us as his parents?” asks Bella eagerly.

“The wrackspurts did not tell me. But Neville is the best, kindest person I know. He never made fun of me like the others at school. I’m sure he will accept you.” Luna tries to reassure the agitated woman, not noticing the looks she’s got at the mention of her schoolmates’ tormenting her. Draco never noticed her much at school, she was a year younger and not in his house, but now when he thinks about it, he never sees her talking to anyone at lunch. 

“Little cousin, who is making fun of you? I will make them suffer!” he promises vehemently.

“Thank you Draco, but I can take care of myself. But you can help me to strike a date with my future husbands if you want!”

“Little moon, you found your husbands? Why didn’t you write me? Who are they?”

“Yes Daddy I did! And they are the two most handsome boys in our school, they are year older than me.”

“But cousin! I am the most handsome boy in our school” pouts Draco jokingly “and I can not be your mate!” he surreptitiously looks Rabastan’s way. He thinks the older man is his mate, but he is not sure, still having a feeling like something is missing there. The look does not escape his father who frowns deeply.  _ My Draco and Rab? Why can’t my sons pick someone their age? Why they need to go after my friends? First Haddy and Severus and now Draco. _

Luna just laughs sweetly “Oh Draco, of course it is not you! It’s Vince and Greg!” Draco feels his chin drop, he sees the same expression on the others who know Crabbe and Goyle. He goes to argue with her, because those two are no proper boyfriends for a fragile, little girl like her, but is interrupted by a house elf popping into the room.

“Master Xeno! Young master Hadrian asks you to come to the Floo room, he and his friend want to go to the Magic bank and want you to go with them!”

“Thank you Nimpy. I will join you brother”

“Master Lucius! The young master said only master Xeno should come.” the little elf explains.

“Why would Haddy not want me to go?” wonder Lucius out loud.

“It is probably not his decision love” Tom tries to reassure him and gives him a kiss on the cheek. “It is probably young Lysander who made the decision. He doesn’t know us, he only knows the lies that that old Longbottom hag told him.”

“You are right of course, that makes sense. Okay, go brother and return as quickly as possible.”

“Wait! Take this” Rodo stops him, handing him an old looking key. “This is the key to Lestrange’s vaults, any fees that the goblins will require should be paid from there. Thank you for going with him and please make sure they are both safe.” Xeno just nods and follows the little elf out of the room, the key secured around his neck.

 

They keep waiting in the sitting room. Bella is still pacing, but now barefoot because her feet hurt like hell from the heels her sister gave her. Draco is arguing in the corner with Luna. He is alternating between trying to make her to tell him who tormented her at school or convince her that Crabbe and Goyle are not the best choice for husbands and she can do muuuch better.

Severus pulled some papers he has to mark by Monday, clearly trying to avoid looking at Lucius and Tom going at it like teenagers.  _ How are they even breathing? Their lips did not part for at least twenty minutes _ he thinks grumpily.

Avery, Augie, Nott and Rab pulled out a game of Exploding snap, while Rodo watches them play. He already finished the cake and now is nibbling at some pastries, while slapping any hand (except his wife’s of course) that tries to take one from him. Narcissa is sleeping in her chair, snoring lightly and drooling a little bit.

The door bang open, pulling a very unlady like noise from Cissa who suddenly wakes up. A curly haired boy runs in going straight for Bella. “Mama!” he basically jumps at her and starts crying. She folds down on the floor under his weight, but does not relent the tight grip on her baby boy. Rodo moves hesitantly closer, unsure if he is allowed to hug Lys as well. He is grabbed by his wife and pulled down to join them at the floor. The others quietly leave the room to give the reunited family time alone. 

 

“Shhh, my loves. Everything will be okay now. No one will split us again, I swear.” Rodo tries to console his crying wife and son. He pulls them up and towards the sofa and places Lysander on his lap, despite him being quite tall. “Let me look at you sweetheart.” The boy sitting on his lap was completely different from the one he remembered from Ministry and photographs, he had a head full of black curly hairs like his wife and Lestrange’s typical blue eyes. He looked like he got the best from both of them. Rodo kisses him on forehead and lets him snuggle under his chin, hand gently stroking his back.

“I don’t want to return to Hogwarts, I want to stay with you” the boy admits quietly. “I wish I could turn back time, to be a baby again and start my life anew. I want to know how it is to grow up with family that loves me.” Neville admits quietly. His mother lays gentle hand on his cheek, eyes so full of love he can hardly imagine her being the same crazy woman who attacked them last year.

“If that is what you wish my love, we will find a way how to do it. There must be a potion or a spell for that, but we must wait. We need to get rid of Dumbledore first. He is too dangerous and as a baby you would be defenceless. I would not survive if anything happened to you.” Lysander nods, still staying snuggled in his father’s arm. 

Rodo tries to cheer him up: “Do you want to meet your uncle? He is my younger brother Rabastan. He is your godfather and Cissa your godmother.” Lysander agrees and Bella goes to call them back. Half of them almost falls through the door when she opens them. “It is not nice to listen behind the door you know?” she admonishes, but her lips are twitching as she tries to suppress a smile. They all sheepishly walk into the room, Haddy going straight to his friend. “How are you feeling Nev?” he asks with concern.

“Thank you Harry, I’m fine and please call me Lysander, Lys. I want to be called by my real name.”

“Of course Nev.. egh Lys” he smiles guiltily “but you will have to start calling me by my real name too. I am Hadrian Thomas Lucius Gaunt Malfoy Riddle, so Haddy” he puffs up proudly and turns to Bella “I just want to make it clear that it was not my idea to listen behind the door. It was Rab’s idea!” he points a finger at the older man. 

“You little squirt! Gentleman does not tell on others!” Haddy just sticks his tongue at him. Rabastan goes for him “Just wait you little shit. I will pull that tongue out of your mouth!” They start to chase each other around the room, running in circles around the other until Rab finally catches him and starts to mercilessly tickle him.

“Nooo, pleaaase stoop. I can’t take iiiiit.” Haddy yells with tears running down his face. He turns his head to his brother: “Draco help!” and because Draco is a good big brother and of course can not pass the opportunity to touch Rab, he does help. He jumps on Rab’s back and starts to tickle him. “Noooo, please stop! It is not fair. Two against one. Rodo please help!”

“You got yourself into this situation, brother dear. You shouldn’t have listened on us. Be glad our old nanny isn’t here, she would take a cane to your ass for that.” Everybody laughs at that and the twins finally deem him punished enough and let him go, although slightly reluctantly on Draco’s part. He picks himself up and goes directly to his nephew. 

“You will protect your favourite uncle, right Lys? Show them who has the strongest magic here and turn them into toads!” Lys just laughs, but then something what his new uncle said catches his attention.

“Why would you think I have the strongest magic uncle Rab? I am rubbish at school. Especially at Potions, just ask Professor Snape.”

“Don’t you worry Lysander, your lack of skills at Potions is not your fault. You inherited it. Both your father and uncle were the worst Potions students in the history of Hogwarts, they blew the classroom with every single potion they’ve ever made.” Snape smirks at the pouting brothers.

“Hey that is not fair! Not everyone is a prodigy at it like you! It is our inheritance that prevents it. Our sense of smell is too strong! You know, we have dragon’s blood running through our veins Lys, this gives us extraordinarily strong magical core, but makes making potions almost impossible due to the fumes in the room.” explain Rodolphus.

“Wow that is so cool, but I don’t have a strong core.” Lys admits sadly.

“You do Lys! You just had blocks put on you. You did not read the results of the inheritance till the end! It clearly says you had ninety five percent of your core bound by Dumbles and your grandmother, look!” Haddy brandishes the scroll with the results and they all try to read it over Lys’ shoulder.

“But this also said he had his creature inheritance bound, so that could not mess with his potions skills.” frowns Lucius.

“Ha!” Sev exclaims, pointing his finger at the Lestrange brothers “there goes your excuse, you inheritance has nothing to do with your potion skills, you’re just shite at it!”

“Hey!” all Lestrange men, even Lys, exclaimed, mockingly offended. Rab jumps up and stands as close to Sev as possible: “Do you remember what were we good at Sevie?” he says in a singsong voice. The potion master applies one of his trademark scowls to scare off the idiot, but of course it has no effect. It is very hard to intimidate a person who saw you make a fool out of yourself for million times while you were at school.

“What were you good at?” Lys interrupts the staring contest. He hates when Snape looks at him like that, it always causes him to make a mistake.

Rab turns to him with a sharp, predatory grin. “Well little nephew, curses of course! We invented awesome curses, some of them almost impossible to cancel.”

“You two will not be cursing anyone in this house, or you wait and see what I’ll do to you!” Narcissa stands up with her arms crossed. “Yes! And I will help her!” adds Bella and mimics her sister’s posture.

That shuts them up pretty quickly, because no dementors or dark wizards are scarier than the Black sisters being mad at you and joining forces.

 

They sit around for awhile, just chatting when Draco suddenly comes up with an idea. “Hey! Let’s have a welcome home party! I’m sure the house elves can prepare some delicious food and we can dance and Papa! We still have that Muggle fireworks, let’s try them!”

“Wonderful idea sweetheart, I will go tell the elves to prepare it. We can meet again in dining room around seven, I’m sure that will be enough time for them to prepare something.” agrees Lucius.

“Leave that to me and Haddy Papa. You can have a lie down, so you can party with us young people all night.”

“Draco! You did not just call me old! I will have you know that I was always the best party man at Hogwarts, I could drink the whole night and then go to classes next day and get straight O’s!” Luc says indignantly.

“Lucius! Do not encourage them to drink! You know the boys will take it as a challenge” admonishes Cissa. “Listen to me boys, you will not be partying, god forbid drinking while at school. You will be studying and will go to sleep no later than eleven. Promise me!”

“We promise Mama!” the twins readily answer, but with fingers crossed behind their backs. As they say little party, never killed nobody.

 

They are all gathered in the dining room. Lucius is more happy than ever before. His family is back together, their friends are with them again and they have a solid plan how to take down the old goat. Also, those three orgasms he’s got when he was suppose to be taking his ‘old man’s nap’ helped as well. The only thing that would make the evening even more amazing would be if he managed to impregnate his beautiful mate. He was slipping the potion that would allow the pregnancy into Tom’s coffee for a week now, but it will take some time to know whether it worked.  _ My poor love, he won’t know what hit him  _ he thinks gleefully.  _ I should really tell him I want another child, but I am sure he would say no until we get rid of Dumbledore. No, this way it is better. I am sure he will be happy when he finds out he is with a child. He always wanted a big family. _

He notices the twins suddenly standing up. “Where are you two going? We did not finish yet!”

“We are going to help the elves with the main course Papa. It is something we designed specially for you, to show you how much we love you.”

“Oh Draco, my perfect sweetheart, I love you too. So so much. Come here and give me a hug, both of you.” They both approach him and he hugs them and kisses their cheeks.

“There is no man in the world that could be more proud of his children.” he confesses, squeezing them tight.

 

_ 5 minutes later…. _

 

“You are the worst children ever! How could you do that to that poor animal! To me?!” Lucius could not believe his eyes. They took one of his favorite peacocks and they killed it! “How could you think this is okay? How could you think I would be able to eat it? Oh my god, please tell me it is not Stardust!” he was feeling completely hysterical. His hair were standing up and he was screeching more like a banshee than a veela. “Oh god no.” he slumps into the chair and hides his face in his hands, trying not to cry. _ I am not gonna cry, am not! It is just an animal, it should not hurt me that much. Even though it was the last gift I’ve got from my mate. They meant good, they did not know… but seeing my Stardust like that, baked like a chicken and his carcass being ‘adorned’ by his beautiful plucked tail. _

He is suddenly grabbed from both sides by his sons who are both trying frantically explain: “It is not real Papa!” starts Draco between sharp breaths “It is not him, it is a charm!” continues Haddy. “It is an illusion, we are so sorry, we didn’t meant to make you cry. Please stop crying, please Papa” they desperately try to pull the hands off of his face and squeeze themselves into his lap.

“It is not real? Then how.. why…” he can not find the words, the desperate hope he did not lose his favorite pet squeezing his throat.

“We thought it would be fun, just a harmless little trick. I’ve read in one muggle book, that during the Middle Ages the lords used to eat peacocks instead of chickens, so we charmed the turkey the house elves prepared to look like one and we simply copied feathers of the biggest one we have and stuck it into the turkey.” explains Haddy, tears shining in his silver eyes.

“Oh, now I’m feeling silly, sorry I yelled” he pulls them both into his lap, trying to hide his embarrassment behind them. He can still hear the chuckles from his friends and family, the only thing keeping him in the room are his children still slightly trembling in his lap and the hand of his mate, slowly stroking his hair.


	18. Quidditch

Draco is excited, it is the day of the first quidditch game of the season - Slytherin against Gryffindor. He knows they will win, the lions won’t stand a chance. Half of their team is completely new with Haddy, the Weasley twins and Oliver Wood gone, they had to find replacements. That little Weasley whore will stand against him as a seeker, there are some younger guys he does not know as beaters, but the biggest joke of them all is Weasel as a keeper.  _ Whose cock must have his sister suck to get him on the team? With team like that we have the victory secured. _

What makes him even happier is, that his family will come to watch him play. Even Haddy and Dad. Papa did not want to take them, afraid of Dumbledore recognizing them, but Haddy and Draco begged and begged and he finally relented on Sunday. Draco suspected it was because he was still feeling guilty for the turkey peacock incident.

 

Ron is feeling sick, not as sick as during “that moment that shall never be mentioned again unless someone wants to get punched”, but nervous sick. He barely touches his breakfast, in one hour will start the first quidditch match of his future career as professional player, he will show them all how much better he is then everybody else. It is truth that Mione had to help him get rid of some of the competitors during the trials, but let’s be honest.  _ Who would want McLaggen on their team? The guy is so full of himself… _

His attention is suddenly grabbed by four people coming through the door to the Great Hall. First Malfoy’s parents...  _ Why my parents aren’t here? If such a cold hearted son of a bitch as Lucius Malfoy can support his son, my parents should too. Just you wait I will send them a Howler as soon as we will win! _ … followed by an unknown tall man and a very blond boy. The boy looks like a smaller version of Malfoy, just with longer hair. Ron hates him on sight.

The group headed straight to Malfoy who sits at the Slytherin table surrounded by his cronies and for some strange reason with Loony Luna and Longbottom.

_ Why would that idiot sit with filth like that? I would understand Loony, no one wants to be friends with her, so she must have been desperate enough to beg the slimy snakes to take her in. She is probably spreading her legs for half of them. Hmmm.. maybe I should try to look like I would be her friend too. I must admit she has quite nice set of tits… _

_ But what about Longbottom? Maybe he is a bender and lets them fuck him too? Why else would they let such a moron sit with them?  _ The blond boy stays with Malfoy, while the adults continue to the head table to greet the Greasy git. Ron keeps staring at them, quidditch completely forgotten. It is clear that both Neville and Luna know the newcomer. He slowly bends to his sister and Hermione sitting next to them: “Did you notice that Longbottom is sitting with Slytherins? And did you see the new guy sitting with Malfoy?”

His sister just sneers: “That fat toad sits with them every meal since Monday morning, someone should really teach him that Gryffindors do not associate with slimy snakes.”

Ron nods, agreeing completely. He is prepared to talk to his roomate in the evening after they win the match. The unknown Malfoy, for he definitely must be a Malfoy with that hair and face, suddenly stares right at him and throws him this snotty ‘I’m better than you’ look that all Malfoys know and use. The boy does not look at him for long, because Draco grabs him around shoulders and whispers something in his ear, making him laugh. They both keep throwing glances back at Ron and it is pretty clear they are bad mouthing him.  _ Little pointy faced pricks, I will show you! You will learn who is your better today and you will regret this! _

 

Haddy thought he will be sad not playing, but it had an unexpected upside. He was sitting in the visitor stands with his parents, when they were joined by Severus. As the seat was quite narrow he was squeezed next to his beloved, inconspicuously moving closer and closer until he was sitting in his lap. At least he thought he was inconspicuous, all the adults knew what he was doing but decided to let him get away with it. He looked extremely cute today, dressed in Slytherin colors with two white and green scarves wrapped around his neck, only his eyes were visible. Both Lucius and Severus thought he looked cold so they gave him their scarfs. Plus the uncomfortable looks Sev was sending Lucius’ way were hilarious.

At the end Severus decided that Lucius won’t try to maim him in front of so many witnesses and decided to enjoy the game and the sweet ass of the little imp. It was a fabulous game, his snakes were crushing the idiots and by the first break it was 180:10 for Slytherin.

“I swear to God, I’ve never seen a worse keeper than Weasley, that kid did not catch one shot!” laughs Lucius “Even you are better on a broom Sev!”

“Excuse me? I am very good on a broom! Just because I choose other, much more comfortable ways of travel it does not mean I do not know how to fly!”

“Really Sev? Will you go flying with me when we’re back at Manor?” Haddy asks, only eyes visible behind the two scarves.

“Ergh… look the game is starting again! Let’s watch, we don’t want to miss anything do we?” the potions master tries to deflect, but the amused looks the others are throwing him clearly say that they saw right through it.

Haddy leans in and whispers in his ear: “Don’t worry Sev, you can ride with me. I won’t let you fall.” Severus shivers feeling the hot breath on his ear and from the idea of them squeezed on one broom. Haddy apparently satisfied with the teasing, turns back to the game. 

 

Slytherin scores another thirty points when Draco sees the snitch. It is glittering near to the ground, but he is definitely closer to it than the little slut. He looks to the stands where his family is sitting, smirks at them and points his broom handle directly to ground. There are surprised shouts from the audience, people standing up and cheering him on. He was surprised to see how many schoolmates from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were cheering for Slytherin today. Apparently Weasel’s attitude and the more free sitting schedule at breakfast warmed the other houses towards them.

He is mere meters above the ground, Weasley just few meters behind him when he notices a bludger heading his way.  _ If I move from my path I’m risking that Gryffindor will get the Snitch! We would still win, but we won’t crush them! FUCK! _ Suddenly a green smear flies into his peripheral vision, it is Lucien, one of their beaters, who brilliantly hits the bludger away, thus making his way clear. “Thanks man!” yelled Draco at the same time with “Great job Mr. Bole! Twenty points to Slytherin!” heard from the stands.  _ Hehe, it seem like Sev forgot again that he can not assign house points to the players during a match. _

The ground is getting closer, but so is the little golden ball that is hovering just centimeters above the ground. Draco does not want to slow down or look back where the slut is.  _ It seems like Haddy’s recklessness is rubbing off of me, good thing we’re wizards and Mama can heal almost anything… _

The whole stadium is very quiet, everyone holding their breath waiting for the inevitable crash. Ginny is closing in, but also getting very nervous of actually hitting the ground. In the end she decides that her pretty face is worth more than some stupid game and pulls the broom up. “I hope you’ll break your neck, you stupid arsehole!”

Draco does not hear any of that, his focus is completely on the ball, the snitch is still holding near the ground, so he stretches himself alongside the broom, almost lying on top of it and reaches out his right arm as far as he can. His fingers are mere centimeters from it when he decides to copy one of his brother’s moves and lets go of the broom. He takes a quite horrible looking tumble, but is able to catch the elusive little ball. He sits up and victoriously holds his arm up and the stadium erupts in cheers. He can see his parents and godfather cheering from the stands, as well as his little cousin.

 

Haddy is so excited for Draco. That maneuver was awesome! It was even better (read more dangerous) than the one he did! Draco went by much higher speed. Haddy can not get to him quick enough, all he can think of is hugging and kissing is perfect brother.

As he finally gets to the grass, he can see Draco disentangling himself from his fellow players and running to him with great grin on his face, eyes only for him. They did not see the little redheaded harpy glaring at Draco’s back and pulling her wand out of her sleeve, luckily Tom did. His eye was caught by the sun reflecting on her hair, giving them the look of a flame and he was taken aback by the look of pure fury on her little face. If glares could murder, his sons would be dead by now. She apparently decided that her glare is not enough and in swift gesture waves the wand on one of the still flying bludgers. The hard ball quickly changes its course, heading straight for Draco’s head. Tom faintly hears the scared scream of his mate and quickly points his wand on the dangerous ball, making it explode behind his boy’s head.

One moment Draco is running towards him, arms spread in expectation of a hug, in the next there is a big crash and he falls down, something exploding right behind his head. Haddy’s joy quickly turns into a fear and then to anger when he notices Ginny standing behind his fallen brother with her wand out.

“You bitch! I will kill you!” he pulls out his wand ready to send her the worst curse he can think of when Papa gets to them and falls to the ground next to unconscious Draco. Haddy decides that he can take care of her later and joins Papa, who is holding Draco in his arms, checking him over. Suddenly the space around them is full of people, all pressing in, trying to find out what happened.

“Step back!” commands Severus and the crowd splits to let him in, Narcissa and Tom close on his heels.

“What happened?” asks Cissa and she is frantically sending diagnostic spells on her baby.

“It was Ginny Weasley Mama! I saw her standing behind him right after he fell with wand in her hand!”

“Don’t you blame my sister you little freak! That idiot is probably just faking it to gain more attention!”

“Fuck you Weasley! I know what I saw, it was her! She will pay! I will find the little bitch and kill her!”

“Don’t you dare call her a bitch! I will show you!” Ron started advancing towards him, fists ready for a fight.

“ENOUGH! I saw what happened from the stands. Hadrian is right, it was Ms. Weasley’s fault, she charmed a bludger to go straight for Draco’s head” a collective gasp from the crowd was heard upon Tom’s revelation “All I could do was to destroy the ball right before the impact, unfortunately the ball was too close to Draco and he was hit by the debris. Cissa, how is he? Will he be alright?”

“It looks like he has some bleeding scratches and maybe a mild concussion, we should take him to the hospital wing, hopefully there will be no consequences. But if the bludger would hit, he would be dead now.” Lucius was completely enraged, he quickly picked his son into his arms, ready to carry him, but before he could leave, he noticed Dumbledore in the crowd: “I expect her to be expelled, that girl is obviously crazy and dangerous to all! I will take my son to the hospital wing, but as soon as Draco gets better, I will be in your office” he threatens and starts walking towards the castle.

Haddy’s anger slowly abates and gives a way to fear and shock. Tears starts to stream down his face, when Dad picks him up and carries him behind Lucius. Severus, Cissa, Luna and Lys are following them, together with most of the Slytherin. 

 

Poppy is already waiting for them and starts to do the checks as soon as Lucius puts him down. “I can’t detect no concussion, only few scratches and bruising, it seems he was very lucky.” she says.

Draco starts to wake up, he opens his eyes and looks around: “Where am I? Who are you guys?” He starts to laugh as he sees the horrified look on his parents faces “I’m kidding Papa! I’m fine, let’s go celebrate” he tries to stand-up, only to be gently shoved back to the bed.

“You brat! You almost gave me a heart attack! You will not go celebrating you will stay here and rest!”

Draco is pouting: “But Papa, we crushed those idiots we need to party!”

Narcissa sharply turns to he husband: “I told you you should not encourage his partying!” He gives her an exasperated look, but does not reply and just turns back to his son, ready to argue more.

Haddy had had enough, he wiggles from Dad’s hold and climbs up on the bed. “I’m so glad you are alright Drake, that catch was awesome!” he snuggles to his older brother.

“I know right?! You agree we should party? Come on, convince Papa! Use your cuteness for the greater good.”

“You think I am cute? I am not cute! I’m menacing” he pouts jokingly, sitting up and crossing his arms.

“You sure are angel” Lucius kisses him on the top of the head “But it does not  change the fact, that there will be no party, Draco needs his rest.”

“I agree Papa, but what if the party is not today? What if we have the party next Saturday and everyone can come? Pleaaaase” he makes sure to use his best puppy dog eyes. Lucius is powerless, he just can not resist that look. “Oh okay you little minx. You can have the party, just let me know who you want to come and I’ll talk to their parents.”

“Yeees!” is heard all around him.

 


	19. Honorary snake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N >> Disclaimer: we all know I do not own the characters or the song I used here ;)

The adults leave the room, heading to the headmaster’s office to make sure the girl is properly punished.

The room is buzzing with excited voices, everybody discussing the party, what to wear and who to invite. Lys pulls out the little mirror his Mom gave him, they are using it instead of owls so no one can read the letters.

“Hey Mom, Dad!” he greets when their smushed faces appear in the mirror, both trying to look at their son. It was very hard for them both to let their baby go back to school, but they knew that they can not take him out, it would arouse too much suspicion.

“Hello my son, how are you? Was the game good?”

“Yes dad, awesome! You should have seen it, the Gryffindors did not stand a chance, we crushed them!” since learning who his real parents are, Lys did not consider himself a lion anymore, he knew the sorting had to be manipulated somehow, there is no chance a son of Lestrange and Black would end up in Gryffindor. He spent most of his time with Draco, Luna and Draco’s yearmates. They were wary at first, they never really interacted with the boy before, he was too timid, too closed off and of course in different house, but Draco refused to hear anything against him. He decided that he belongs with them and no one was willing to refuse him, they all considered Draco their leader, even the older years. He was the Malfoy heir and they knew Malfoys were their leaders after Dark Lord’s disappearance.

“Haha, serves them right, pompous pricks!”

“Rodo!” Bella’s voice chastities him “you should not use that kind of language in front of Lys! You’re giving him bad example!”

“Oh, come on love… You know he’d heard worse.”

“But not from his father!”

“Mama” Lys interrupts their bickering, he learned they can go for hours if he lets them. They bicker about the smallest things, like what to have for dinner, why father’s shirt is not properly tucked in. But even as they bicker the love they have for each other shines through.

“Yes baby, what do you need.”

“Ehmm, you know… I’d like to go to Draco’s party” he mumbles quickly, he is still insecure in asking anything for himself, too used to having to beg for everything and despite that not getting most. He logically knows that his parents are nothing like grandmoth… Lady Longbottom, but old habits die hard and the cleanse in Gringotts removed only the magical compulsion, not the actual learned behaviour.

“Draco will have a party?”

Haddy suddenly sticks his head next to Lys so he can see them too.

“Hello Auntie, Uncle! Yes, Papa promised us a party to celebrate the win! We do not know when yet, probably on Saturday at the Manor. Can Lys come too? Pleaaase” he applies his  best puppy dog eyes and nudges Lys to do the same. The Lestranges simply can not resist those looks, not that they ever wanted. 

“Of course baby, you can go to the party. We will have to figure out how to get you out of Hogwarts, but we will figure something out” promises Rodo, while his Mom nods.

“Maybe you should keep the party a secret, if no one in the Gryffindor will know about it, we could sneak you out through Sev’s fireplace.”

They agree and Bella promises to talk to Sev to agree how exactly they will do it.

“Thank you, thank you both so much. I’ve never been to a party before” he admits quietly once Haddy goes back to his brother. “It means a lot to me.”

“Of course son, we would do anything to make you happy. And you know what?” says Rodo.

“What?”

“We will make a party for you! Once we get rid of Dumbles and that old hag that had you, we will throw you the biggest party ever. It would be awesome!” Lys can not help the stupid grin that appears on his face. He is so happy to have his family, to have parents that love him and take care of him. Tears of joy start to fill his eyes. Bella sees it and quickly continues to take his mind off of it. She would tear down the Hogwarts’ wards just to get to her baby boy if he started crying now, no matter the consequences. She misses him too much, she always did, but now when he knows who she is and she had him in her arms, it is getting almost unbearable. Only this two way mirror is keeping her from going after her baby boy.

“Do you have anything to wear?” She can see Rodo rolling his eyes from the corner of her eyes, but decides to ignore him. Her beloved never understood how important correct clothes can be for some people, she always feels much better in a new pretty dress.

“Ehhh, not really?” admits Lys “but I don’t think I could sneak of to buy something right now, maybe I can borrow something?”

“Nonsense! I have many fashion magazines here, I will pick something I think might be appropriate, hmm I will talk to Cissa to know what kind of party this should be… Nevermind, I will pick something I like and I will send a houself with them to you, you can pick what you like most, would that be fine?”

“Oh yes!” he nods excitedly “only, please send the elf to Draco’s room? I’m there most of the time these days and I.. in the Gryffindor tower…”

“No worries, I understand my love, I will send the elf to Draco and he can help you pick the right clothes.”

“Thank you! Thank you both! I… I love you so so much” he admits shyly.

“We love you too baby boy” they say back. Lys hides the mirror inside his pocket and turns to his schoolmates. He stops in his tracks, everybody is staring at him!

 

Everybody is staring at him, everybody except Haddy and Draco of course, those two are totally immersed in each other already writing down a list of people they want to invite. And Luna, who is standing on her tiptoes trying to put something into Crabbe’s hair.

He can feel himself getting more red by the minute and little trembles shake his limbs.  _ No! I am not some weak little idiot, who hates being center of attention! I am Lysander Lestrange, heir of two great noble houses, I will not cover in front of them! _

“What?!” he asks quite menacingly, ready to stand for himself.

“Was that? Was that Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange?” Pansy Parkinson is the brave one to break the silence, her voice full of excitement and awe, not accusatory as he expected. He looks at the others and they all look oddly excited and no at all threatening, so he nods.

There are squeals from the girls part and amazed shouts from the boys, everybody talking one over another.

“Oh my god, she is my hero! She is so beautiful and amazing! Who are you? How you know them? Can you introduce me?” Lys is completely baffled, what is happening?

“Draco?” he yells pleadingly.

“Yes?” he yells back from the bed “what happened?” he looks confused at his classmates, they are almost vibrating.

“I don’t know!” Lys moves closer to the bed “I called with Mom and Dad”

“Mom and Dad! They are your parents?! But how?”

Draco pulls Lys closer to him so he can whisper into his ear. “Can I tell them? They won’t betray your secret to anyone. Your parents are legends in Slytherin, most of the people in this room know how their baby was stolen and their families helped looking for you. They wouldn’t do anything to endanger you and will help you keep your secret.”

Lysander looks into the eyes of a boy he used to be so afraid before, but now considers one of his closest friend, he sees no deception, no malice. He nods.

Draco sits up on the bed, sitting like a king on a throne instead of an injured boy in a hospital bed and addresses his friends.

“Dear friends, there is a secret we want to share with you, but before we do that, we must make sure no one can overhear us. Please help me raise the best wards possible, do not forget those that are against house elves, the headmaster loves to use them as his spies.”

Every single Slytherin in the room starts to wave his wand, erecting the strongest wards they know, even flies could not get into that room right now.

“Lys, take off your necklace please” commands Draco once everything is set.

Lys takes a deep breath.  _ This is it. I hope this is not a mistake. _

He takes off the necklace and the short, slightly pudgy boy turns into tall, muscular young man with dark curly hair and striking blue eyes. Several girls (and some of the boys) start to fan their faces.

“Allow me to introduce you Lysander Rodolphus Black Lestrange, heir of the most noble house Lestrange descendant of Merlin the Dragonlord himself.”

 

Lys is beside himself, instead of shouts of dismay and denial the Slytherins seem to be genuinely excited, they are all talking one over another, shaking his hands and hugging him. Almost every single one of them tells him they are related and starts to name all the relatives they have in common.

There is a boy who looks almost like him, but instead of having blue, he has green eyes. He introduces himself as Felix Rosier, he is in fifth year and it turns out he is his cousin, Nev’s true grandmother was a Rosier. He glues himself to Lys’ shoulder and refuses to be budged even if the bigger, quidditch playing guys come to introduce themselves. Lys is very confused, but does not object, the boy is cute, he is shorter and thinner than him and he actually reminds him of his Uncle Rab.

It was one of the nicest afternoons Lys can remember, they sat on the spare beds talked and laughed. After the others realized he knows almost nothing about his true parents they showered him with some (apparently greatly exaggerated) stories about his father and uncle and their adventures at Hogwarts. They basically described them as the more dashing and daring version of the Weasley twins.

 

“I can feel someone coming, quick Lys mask yourself!” one of the seventh years exclaims. Lys hastily puts the necklace around his neck and feels like he is getting shorter.  _ He is shorter than cousin Felix! Damn! That sucks. _

The mediwitch comes to the room and seems to be surprised by the amount of people gathered in the infirmary.

“What are you doing here?” everybody looks either to their shoes or Draco, most surprising are those who look at Lys.

“We are keeping Draco company” Lysander explains when no one seems to be willing to offer an explanation. She looks like she wants to throw them out, but relents and goes to Draco’s bed. Haddy climbs down under her stern gaze, he did not move off of his brother’s bed for more than a second, holding his hand and reassuring himself that his brother is okay.

“Let me look at you Mr. Malfoy, follow the light at the tip of my wand” she moves her wand in front of his eyes up and down, right to left and nods to herself when he follows it with no issue. Then she looks at the scratches at his face and head, consulting a roll of parchment she pulled out of her pocket.

“Okay, no concussion, the scratches on your head are healing nicely, but I do not recommend putting any potions or anything like that in your hair.”

Uuuuus and snickers were heard all around the room, everyone knows how Draco loves his hair potions, but one look from the mediwitch quiets them down.

”Your house elf brought you clean set of clothes, you can go to the toilet to change yourself, I would hurry, the dinner starts in 25 minutes, you would not want to be late. It is to celebrate your victory after all.”

 

Draco changes as quickly as he can, bummed that he can’t do anything about his hair, the fringe keeps falling into his eyes, maybe he should let it grow longer so he can pull it into a bun on something. He gets out of the bathroom to find his classmates with a sheets of parchments, laughing like crazy.

“What is going on?” he asks confused. Blaise hands him his sheet.

“Your cousin came up with a great way how to troll the Weasel, she came up with a song we can sing every time we see him, look!”

Draco looks at the parchment, there is a short poem or a song on it, the name says Weasley is our King.

“Oh my god Luna you came up with it? It’s awesome! I can not wait to see his face when he hears it for the first time! Lets go! I’m sure he will be waiting in front of the Great Hall.”

 

They all move to the Entrance hall, waiting till Weasley will show up for the dinner. The moment they notice him walking down the stairs they start to sing:

 

_ “Weasley cannot save a thing, _

_ He cannot block a single ring, _

_ That's why Slytherins all sing: _

_ Weasley is our King.” _

 

The look on his face is hilarious, he goes red and then almost purple, the color clashing awfully with his hair. He runs down the stairs, his yearmates following him.

“You slimy pricks! How dare you to mock me! It wasn’t my fault, you did something! You cheating bastards, I’m sure you charmed the the quaffle so I could not catch it!” he yells, clenching his fists. None of them answer the stupid accusation, everybody knows that the quaffle has a special protective charms over it, no untrained wizard could charm it. They sing again as one man:

 

_ “Weasley cannot save a thing, _

_ He cannot block a single ring, _

_ That's why Slytherins all sing: _

_ Weasley is our King.” _

 

They all laugh so hard they almost fall down.

It is in that moment that enraged Ron notices Neville among the snakes. “Longbottom! You traitor! How can you be with them, you are a Gryffindor, you should stand up for me, your own housemate!”

“Come on Ron Ron, we all know there was no charm on that quaffle, you are just useless. Gryffindor should be ashamed of choosing you for the team and not defend you!” Lys mocks him with a newfound confidence.

“You little bitch! I always knew you do not belong with us, you fat little fuck!” and with that he swings his fist towards Lys face. Lys is able to move back and Ron is quickly pulled back by his roommates. All mirth in the Slytherins dies down, how dares the blood traitor attack their Lys! Weasley rips himself from the hands of Seamus who tried to hold him back, but instead of storming off he tries to strike Lys again. Lys turned around, so he did not see the ginger coming. He would get a blow in his face, if Felix did not jump right in front of him. Ron’s fist connects to the smaller boy’s face and that is when the real fight begins, he is immediately jumped by several Slytherins. The lions are loyal, that is the most known quality of their house so of course they won’t let attack on their fellow lion unanswered.

The biggest and most vicious fight between the houses begun, some are using their wands, but most are fighting the muggle way, even the girls are fighting, slapping each other and pulling hair. The most vicious pair are Draco and Weasel, trading punches and spells alike.

Granger is watching them, safely hidden in an alcove at the side of the hall, away from the fight. She pulls her wand and points it to the fighting pair, apparently waiting for a good chance to strike. What she does not see is Haddy, Draco shoved him against a wall together with Luna who is trying to stop the bleeding from Felix’s nose, Crabbe and Goyle protecting them with their own bodies, knocking down anyone who dares to come near.

“Oh no, you don’t you little cow.” He carefully points his wand towards her, already snickering at the spell he thought of. A quick incantation and she starts to squeal like a banshee, hands covering her face. He remembered her teeth from the first few years and how unconscious she was of them, so he made her front teeth grow again and become ugly yellow pieces of roth. “That serves you right!”

He turns back to the fight, ready to dwell in and attack the first idiot who comes near, but is stopped by Goyle. “Come on Greg! Let me through!”

“Can’t do little Haddy, you’re too fragile for that fight, they would kill you and then Draco would kill me.” he answers, annoyingly calm.

Haddy tries to slip under his arm, but Greg catches him. “Do not make me stick you to the wall!” he shoves him back behind his broad back. “Lunaaa” Haddy turns to his cousin “make your future husband let me go! I need to help them!” he looks at her pleadingly.

“Those eyes are not working on me, I’m not your parents or brother” she scowls at him “Gregory is right, they would eat you alive and you too” she turns to Felix, who tries to slip out of her grip now that his nose is no longer bleeding. “Look at some of the seventh years there. They would crush you with one hand! You are of much better use right here.” they both pout but at the end agree, that fighting the muggle way might not be for them, they pull their wands and start firing curses left and right.

 

“That’s enough!” a mighty yell from the top of the stairs makes them all freeze on the spot. It is Severus of course and the other teachers are gathered behind him.

_ Oh god, that’s a man. He is so hot right now I’m gonna melt right here _ thinks Haddy, dreamy eyes locked on Severus. Sev notices him at the back near the wall and flies down the stairs like a bat of hell. His anger is almost palpable in the air and the students subconsciously move out of his way, splitting in the middle like a sea. His sharp eyes are taking in everything, every culprit and every bruise. He comes near where Crabbe and Goyle are obviously shielding Hadrian, looks him up and down and then nods to the two big boys when he sees him unharmed.

He turns around and spots his godson who still has the annoying Weasley in headlock. He grabs them both by their ears “Will anyone explain to me what happened here?” he shakes them, almost pulling their ears of their heads. Of course all the children start to talk at the same time. He barely manages to suppress an eyeroll. “Silence!” he yells again and they all thankfully shut up. Then Luna manages to squeeze herself out of her protective barrier behind Greg and Vince and stands in front of him.

“I can explain Professor Snape.” she says in the sweetest, dreamiest voice yet.


	20. Headmaster's trickery

Lucius was furious, furious but also scared. He started to regret taking Tom and Haddy with him. He knows the old fool knows who Tom is, he can think many bad things about the headmaster, but he is not stupid. They are on his turf now and Lucius can not guess what he will do.

They walk into the office and he sits in front of the headmaster’s table trying to push down his veela transformation. Now that he knows Draco is safe, his fear gave a way to anger and anger almost always makes him shift, but he can’t, can’t show the headmaster any weakness right now. Also he was always uncomfortable to shift in front of strangers. Cissa sits next to Lucius, while Tom stays by the door. He wishes to join his mate, to comfort him, but they pretend that he is just a family friend, so he needs to keep appearances.

Silence reigns the room, everyone waiting for the old man to start. Lucius already stated his desire to expel the little wench, now it’s Dumbledore’s move. After a minute of silence when they were measuring each other with eyes locked, the headmaster relents and starts:

“The incident was unfortunate and I’d like to formally apologize for the injuries your son suffered. The balls have protective charms over them so no one can manipulate them. Ms. Weasley shouldn’t have been able to make it go after your son. I will have a stern conversation with Madam Hooch later on as she is the one responsible for the quidditch equipment.”

_ That’s it? I apologise and I will talk to Madame Hooch? You think you can get away with just that? _ Luc’s rage is rising again, only his long time experience in keeping his pureblood mask on is keeping him from transforming and strangling the old idiot.

“Thank you headmaster, I really would appreciate that. However you must understand my concern regarding Ms. Weasley. She is clearly deranged and dangerous, such a person should not attend this school, she is danger to everyone.”

“Oh come on Lucius, she is young and passionate, didn’t we all do foolish things in our youth? Things we regret to this day?” His eyes clearly move from Luc to Tom.  _ Oh, so I should consider Tom, my mate a ‘foolish mistake’? _ Hate surges inside of him.

“Ms. Weasley acted in anger, clearly upset from the lost game, but you would not want to ruin her future for this little act, to make her education suffer. Am I right?”

“And what about my son’s future? You know as I do, that if that bludger hit its target I would not have a son right now.”

“Wouldn’t you?” he asks meanly.  _ Ugh, so you figured out who Haddy is. I know it was too much to hope you’d overlook him, but one can wish. _

“I’m not sure what you’re implying here” Lucius decides to play dumb, he knows very well what the old man is saying, but he wants to know how he will explain it to McGonagall and the other teacher that followed them into the office.

“I simply meant, that we can not be sure whether the accident would be fatal or not.”

“Accident? Why are you calling this an accident? It was no accident, she knew very well what she is doing.”

“She is too young to fully realize the consequences of her actions, I’m sure she did not mean any serious harm. She is a temperamental young woman, but she is not crazy.”

“I disagree, I heard many stories about her unstable nature from my son and his friends, she likes to attack people and with all due respect, she is not the only one in that family who can not hold her temper in check. Her older brother who attacked my son several times, her father who attacked me personally as well as her mother, just to name a few.”

“Dear Lucius” Luc’s blank expression brakes the tiniest bit at that, he hates the familiarity of the headmaster, the man he hates from the bottom of his heart “I know that relationships between yours and hers families were… strained for several centuries, but let’s not pull these old grudges into this situation. Don’t you think it is time to ‘bury the hatchet’ as the muggles say?”

“That is not the matter we’re all here to discuss. I want her to be expelled, her last name has nothing to do with it. Let me put it this way, you’ll either expel her, or I will bring this matter to the Board and let them decide, I will also pull my son out of Hogwarts while she is here and I would advise to my friends to do the same, imagine how it would look like if you suddenly lost half of your students, wouldn’t it?”

The amused, grandfatherly twinkle disappears from the Headmaster’s eyes and they turn cold as ice. He knows he cannot afford such a scandal, there is a lot of rumours circling about him lately, granted they are mostly spread by the harpy Skeeter and her stupid Quibbler articles, so not that many people actually believe them, but this would be completely another level of scandal. No, he can not have Malfoy pull his son out of school. He needs to think and quickly!

“Hmm, I believe we’re all in quite a shock over what happened and it is clouding our judgement, we need a fresh pair of eyes and ears. What do you think?”

“What do you mean?” Lucius asks suspiciously.

“I believe that we need to call a psychologist who would talk to the girl and decides whether she is dangerous. How about your brother in law? Ted Tonks?” he smiles at Narcissa, the grandfatherly, concerned act full on again.

Ted Tonks, a muggleborn and a husband of Cissa’s eldest sister Andromeda. The black sheep of the Black family, she ran away and joined Dumbledore’s side against them just because she fell in love. She did not even help them when Haddy and Lys were kidnapped. Needless to say there was no love lost between the sisters and certainly no trust towards Andromeda or her husband.

“Hmm, as you say Ted is my brother in law” starts Lucius sweetly, even though it hurts his stomach to call that man a family “it could be questioned later, that he did not pass the right judgement because his nephew was the victim in this case, no I believe we need to call someone else, someone with no ties on either side of the family. Madame Pomfrey!” he turns politely to the mediwitch “you as an experienced healer certainly have the contacts at St. Mungo’s and can help us to find a good psychologist with no ties to either of our families.”

“Yes, that should be no problem, I will Floo immediately, this situation is very concerning and must be resolved as soon as possible.”

“Wait!” stops her the McGonagall. “We can not have the child undergo an examination without her parents’ presence and consent. We should floo them first.”  _ Damn you old woman _ , thinks Dumbledore,  _ like I need hysterical Molly on my hands right now _ . Severus is equally excited, Minerva is of course right, it’s just he really hates the Weasley matron’s theatrics.

The headmaster can not find any way how to avoid it, so he sends a message to Molly and Arthur through Felix, he would use the Floo, he knows they are staying at Grimmauld place again, but he can not say it in front of these people, he doesn't want to lose the house and move his headquarters elsewhere.

 

It is not more than five minutes later when they both come through the fireplace, immediately zeroing on the Malfoys still sitting in front of the headmaster’s table.

Arthur sharply turns to the headmaster. “What is HE doing here?” he clearly means Lucius, so Lucius can not resist but poke him a little. “Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. It is SO good to see you” he drawls sarcastically, not bothering to actually stand up and greet them. There is no use to it, everybody knows that the Malfoys and Weasleys hate each other, the feud going back centuries. _ Oh, I can not wait to see their stupid faces when their precious little flower gets expelled. _

“What is going on Dumbledore? Why were we summoned?”

“Please sit down first Molly” he leads them to a settee in front of the fireplace, taking a seat on a chair opposite of them.

“There was an incident after the quidditch match involving young Mr. Malfoy and your daughter.”

“What did that horrible boy did to my sweet baby?” yelled Mrs. Weasley immediately turning sharply to Lucius and Narcissa.

“Your 'sweet baby’” he intones sarcastically “was the one to attack my son, unprovoked I might add. She is clearly out of her mind. She made a bludger fly straight towards his head. Only a quick reaction of an onlooker who destroyed the ball saved my son’s life.”

“Liar!” Arthur jumps out of the chair, pointing accusingly at Lucius. “You are a liar! My Ginny would never do anything like that. She is the sweetest girl there is!”  _ Like your wife? The man is either blind and deaf, or completely stupid, or both. There is absolutely nothing sweet about the little harpy. _

“He is not lying” professor McGonagall decides to step in. “I saw the whole thing. Ms. Weasley was very angry, because of the loss we suffered and in her anger she indeed charmed the bludger to hit Mr. Malfoy’s head.” A silence rings in the room, Lucius is sure that if anyone else would said it, the Weasleys would argue more, but not against her. Everybody knows she would never lie about such a thing.

_ Aaand of course the ginger bitch starts to cry. _

“Oh my poor sweetheart, what we are gonna do?”

“Don’t you worry Molly” the headmaster tries to calm her down. “Lucius says she is dangerous and therefore should not be allowed to attend the school” if looks could kill Lucius would be dead. Molly obviously readies herself for one of her famous rants, but Dumbledore quickly intercepts her. “I have a solution, if we call in a psychiatrist who could confirm she is no danger, I would not be forced to expel her. But I need your consent to call one.”

“Of course. Let’s call Ted, he will confirm it.”

“Actually, we talked about calling healer Tonks, but decided against it. He is in the end related to us and therefore his opinion might not be completely objective in this matter.” Luc smirks at them, he knows they hoped that Tonks who hates all purebloods would side with them, no matter the truth. “Madame Pomfrey kindly agreed to bring one of the healers from St. Mungo’s, that way we can be certain their opinion is objective.”

He can see they want to argue, but a sharp look from Dumbledore quiets them and at the end they agree.

Madame Pomfrey quickly leaves and comes back with an elder witch and then goes back to the infirmary to check up on Draco. Professor McGonagall went to fetch the girl in the meantime.

You would think that the girl would be smart enough to show at least some remorse, but no, she walks in like she owns the room, absolutely unconcerned. Lucius cannot wait till they put her in her place.

Her mother immediately latches onto her, pulling her close and stroking her hair. She explains why are they there and the girl has the audacity to scowl at them.

The headmaster offers his rooms to the psychologist and they depart.

 

Lucius and the others wait in the main office when new people start to flow into the paintings of previous headmasters and start to talk at the same time. “Quiet!” Dumbledore yells to interrupt the racket. “By Merlin’s beard! What happened?” He points to the picture of his predecessor. “Explain!”

“A riot! Students fighting students in the Entrance hall!”

“A riot? Who is fighting?”

“Can’t you guess you idiot?” Phineas Nigellus Black mocks the headmaster “It’s my snakes against those stupid lions of course and before you ask a lion started it” Lucius always wondered why Phineas’ portrait was never taken down and hidden in some closet, he was always so sassy and obstinate towards Dumbledore.  _ He probably glued his portrait to the wall like Aunty Walburga did, hehe. _

“I will go and have a look, Minerva would you care to accompany me?” Severus offers, she nods and they hastily depart.

 

The door leading to headmaster’s private rooms bang open and the Weaslette storms out, she is crying and stomping her way towards her mother.

The healer comes out at much calmer pace, her expression unreadable. She sits opposite of the girl’s parents.

“Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, I talked to Ginevra, but would you mind also answering several questions? It is to get a clear view how was she as a child, how she interacted with other children etc.”

“Okay, what do you want to know?” asks Molly without even looking at her husband “my Ginny was always a sweet child full of smiles and laughter.” she pulls a handkerchief from her sleeve and gently dabbs her eyes. _ I must admit, she has managed to pull the concerned mother persona to perfection _ , thinks Narcissa maliciously. She does not even consider that the tears can be genuine, she was in the same year as her and she remembers how the woman worked, if something did not go her way she got angry and if that did not work she played the victim and started to cry.  _ Despicable woman. _

“Did it happen that she suddenly got overly angry over a small thing?”

“What do you mean overly angry? Every child has tantrums!”

“No, only those with lax parents and no manners, our Draco never threw a tantrum” murmurs Lucius to his wife, she looks at him disbelievingly. She remembers their little Draco quite differently than her husband. He was never as spoilt as the Weasley girl, but he was no angel either.

“Okay, you are right, every child has them, did she often break hers or others things?”

“Well yes, that is the way how she expresses herself, she grew up with six older brothers, it is hard to be heard over them.” the psychologist makes a note, but does not comment.

“And how long would you say her tantrums lasted or lasts?”

“I don’t know, few hours? A day or two? Where are you going with these questions?!”

“Mrs. Weasley from my talk with your daughter and from what you’ve just said, I have a suspicion that your daughter might suffer an illness known as bipolar disorder. Anger in bipolar children can appear as extreme temper tantrums involving verbal and physical aggression. Children with bipolar disorder may physically attack playmates or family members, destroy their favorite toys or siblings’ toys, kick, spit, cry, and scream. It’s common for bipolar children to become extremely upset when they are disciplined or told ‘no’ These temper tantrums can turn into rages lasting for hours, even days.”

“What are you saying! My daughter is not sick! She is just temperamental! Every Prewett is! I’m not gonna listen to this crap! I’m leaving and taking my child with me!” she stands up and pulls the girl roughly with her.

“Oh, how horrible, the poor girl” exclaims Narcissa “you should listen to the healer, I’m sure she can help.”

“Stay out of it you bitch! This is all your fault, yours and your brat’s!”

“Hey! You will not talk to my wife like that!” Lucius jumps out of the chair, he won’t tolerate disrespecting of his family by these… these lowlives!

“That’s enough!” it is the first time Tom stepped into the conversation. He did not wanna pull too much attention towards himself, but his head really started to hurt from all this yelling and he wanted to get back to his son.

“Mrs. Weasley, please take your daughter home and maybe talk to another healer, it is always good to have more than one opinion, you seem to trust this Ted Tonks, so maybe you can approach him.” she is too shocked to reply, so he quickly uses the pause in yelling and turns to his mate and Cissa. “Lucius, please leave it be. Imagine yourself in their shoes, they are very upset by the news that their daughter might be sick, imagine if it was Draco we’re talking about.” he gently pushes Luc back into the chair, keeping his hand on his shoulder to ground him.

The effect of his calm words on all present was astounding, everybody listened without even thinking. Lucius and Cissa felt honestly ashamed for making it harder for the other parents, even if they were Weasleys and the Weasleys got new hope, Ted will certainly confirm that their daughter is not sick! They hastily depart.

 

“Let’s go and check up on Draco, I’m sure he is wondering where you are.” Tom leads Narcissa out of the room, Lucius makes to follow them, but is stopped by surprisingly strong hand on his arm.

“Careful who are you playing with Lucius, you know you have tendency to lose things when playing out of your league and there might be a day when you won’t be able to find them again.” The headmaster whispers into his ear and shoves him out of the room, not waiting for a reply. Lucius is scared, terrified even. What if they won’t be able to get rid of him? The articles did not do much to his reputation and most of the evidence found by the goblins is not leading directly to him. The old bastard is clever and knows how to cover his tracks.


	21. Difficult conversations

“Let’s move to the Great Hall first. Everybody will sit down, I don’t want to hear a single word. The teachers will come to the tables and check your injuries. We need to make sure none of you dunderheads is hurt too much!” Severus commands. There was never such a silence in the Great Hall before, they all know it got out of their hands and are afraid of the consequences.

The teachers checked the students one by one, made sure to stop any bleeding and reverse curses.

“All right Ms. Lovegood, please come here and tell us what happened.” Sev becomes the girl towards the teachers table.

“I was with the Slytherins in the infirmary, making sure Draco was okay. Madame Pomfrey checked him and sent us to dinner. We waited in the Entrance Hall till the door open when Weasley and some of the Gryffindors came down. There was a little bit of teasing about the game and he’s got angry. Especially when he saw Neville with us, he called him a traitor and some mean names professor!” she says with no trace of her usual loonliness, she even forces some tears into her eyes, giving her look of pure, distressed innocence. She knows that this is no time to talk about the creatures she can see. No, she must make them believe what she is saying and make them blame the ginger who hurt her friends so much “And then! Then he tried to punch him, twice! Felix Rosier tried to defend him and Weasley punched him in the nose until he bled! The other Slytherins just wanted to stop him and pull him away from poor Felix, but got jumped by the other lions. But still Weasley was the one to start it!”

“Is that what happened Mr. Weasley?” Professor McGonagall asked the redheaded boy.

“No! She is making it sound like the slimy snakes are the poor victims, but they’re not! They mocked me! And Longbottom should have stood with us, not those pricks! He is no Gryffindor!” He saw no point denying the rest of what Loony said, he believed his actions to be fully justified.  _ Someone needed to put that useless idiot in his place! _

Severus feels a headache coming up, he sends Luna back to her place at the Ravenclaw table and sits down with the other teachers. 

“How do we punish Weasley?” he asks.

“Weasley? Why focus on him only? They all had part in it.”

“Minerva! You heard that girl, he was the one to start it, we need to make him an example!”

“No! I will not allow you to use him as a scapegoat, that boy is maybe rude, but he should not bear the punishment alone! Your snakes were also at fault, you heard Ms. Lovegood, they teased him despite knowing of his temper!”

“Do not blame Slytherins! You always do that!” Sev jumps out of the chair, not even noticing that Flitwick cast a Muffliato, so the students won’t hear their argument. He was enraged,  _ Minerva can be so pigheaded, so… Gryffindor! She was always like that, even when he was a student. But he had enough, enough of stupid Gryffindors ruining his live, enough of stupid Weasleys endangering his family. _ “You always defend only your house, you’re blind to their mistakes! That child should be expelled, same as his sister!”

McGonagall’s voice is cold and dangerous when she responds: “Be careful of your words Snape, we both know that none of the Weasleys will get expelled. We do not know what really happened, all we know is what that girl” she says with clear disdain in her voice” said. I know she is a friend of your godson, she is obviously trying to protect him and blame my lions!”

Sev takes a deep breath, readying to argue more, when a small body jumps between them and the high pitched voice of the charms professor breaks their argument:

“Enough! Stop arguing! You are acting just like the students, you are a bad example for them!” they both glare at the goblin, but remain silent. Despite his diminutive hight, professor Flitwick is one of the most powerful residents of Hogwarts and a master duelist. He could take them both with one hand tied behind his back.

“We need to punish them all, all Slytherins and Gryffindors were involved and I saw a lot of students from my own house and also Hufflepuff, so all houses should be punished somehow.” It is apparent that both Severus and McGonagall are not pleased by the suggestion, but the other teachers start to nod in agreement, so they do dare to argue it more.

They try to come up with a suitable punishment, but they never had to deal with an issue on quite this scale. How can they punish everyone? They can’t assign detentions, they do not have enough space for them. Several of them wants to call the headmaster and let him decide, but Sev knows that the old fool would let them off easy. At the end they come to an agreement:

“Both Slytherin and Gryffindor are losing all the points won in this year. The fight was mostly between them, but we saw several Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs involved as well, so those two houses will each lose five hundred points. Additionally we will discuss with the headmaster cancelling of the quidditch matches” Flitwick addresses the students. Shouts of dismay are heard all over the Hall. “Quiet! If you are not able to manage the competition maturely, you won’t play at all! We will let you know his decision as soon as we have it. Now eat! And no moving between the tables today, everybody stays with his own house.” Severus’ tone brakes no argument and his glare silences any protests. He stalks off of the platform with the teachers table and joins his snakes. He can not bare the thought of sitting at one table with Minerva without cursing her. Instead he sits between Hadrian and Draco, making sure his back is turned to teacher’s table and the rest of the Hall.

“Now tell me, what really happened?” he asks in low voice as to avoid being overheard. They all freeze a little, if they tell the whole truth will they get punished more? It is Haddy who takes the courage to answer the intimidating man. He knows Sev would not punish them more, he hates Weasley as much as they do, so he tells him everything. Sev’s lips start twitching when he recites the song Luna came up with and the snakes finally relax.

 

Hadrian was exhausted, he was glad to see Hogwarts again, but the wonderful day they had was completely ruined by the bloody Weasleys and their stupid tempers. He was slumped against Sev’s shoulder, the Slytherin’s common room only half full. Lys and Luna were there of course, Lys refused to go back to the Tower and Sev decided to pretend he did not notice that the boy is sleeping in here.

They were exchanging stories from ‘the battle’, they were no longer afraid of punishment from their Head of house. He looked completely relaxed, the smaller Malfoy curled under his arm, as he listened to Lucien’s story, even laughed with them sometimes. The Slytherin noticed a change in him is the last few weeks, but this night cemented it. He was never unfair or mean to them as he was with the other houses, he tried to help any snake who came to him for help, but he was also cold and distant, but that changed. For one thing, he smiles a lot more, he looks happier now and the students are grateful for it. He also spends more time with them in the common room, sometimes playing chess, other time helping with homework or recommending a good book on the topic the student wants to research... 

That is how Luc, Cissa and Tom find them, they of course knew the password to the dorms from their sons. By the time they’ve come, Hadrian is almost asleep, he is warm and snuggled in Sev’s robes. He does not want to move a bit!

“Come on angel, time to go home.” Cissa gently shakes his shoulder. Haddy just grumbles and burrows deeper under his mate’s arm. “I will carry him to the front gates if you want, you should use the standard apparition spot, so the old goat does not know about the connected Floos, let’s keep it like that” They slowly walk towards the Entrance hall, each deep in though.

Haddy is awoken by the cold air when the doors open, he hugs Sev around his neck and whispers in his ear: “Thank you Severus, you were my hero today” he smiles and plants a little peck on the older man’s cheek. The man cannot push the smile off of his face as he tucks the blond hair behind his ear. “For you, anytime kitten”

 

Lucius stayed behind, he needed to talk to Severus. They locked themselves in the potion master’s quarters and erected strongest wards.

“What happened in the office after I left? Did he expel her?”

“Ye… No, actually there was no decision made at the end. The psychologist said, that she has a suspicion that the girl suffers from a bipolar disorder, but her parents did not want to hear it, they made a scene as always, but in the end agreed to consult one more expert to make sure she was not misdiagnosed.”

“Isn’t bipolar disorder a state when euphoric periods alternate with deep depression? How her tantrums fit into that?”

“The healer said that it is different with children, instead of depressions, there are states of extreme rage that can last for days.”

“Hmmm, interesting” Sev concludes and continues to watch his friend. There is something else that happened in there, Lucius is oddly quiet, he looks afraid. The potion master changes seat and sits next to him instead, draping one arm over his friend’s shoulders.

“What else happened?” he asks gently.

Lucius is barely holding his frustration and fear at bay, he hides his face in the palms of his hands and tells him how Dumbledore threatened him right before he left the office.

“What are we going to do Sev? The articles do not work, yes some people might be questioning him now, but it is not nearly enough. I talked to the goblins and they are looking, but can’t find anything that would cause him any serious harm, even that letter of attorney he filed to become your proxy would not create too much problems. He has too many powerful friends. What if we’re not able to defeat him? I’m tired, so tired.” he slumps down, his whole body projecting defeat.

“How about the creatures? Didn’t we want to enlist them for help?”

“And what use would they be? They have no say in this society, he made sure of that. No, they will be no help to us unless we want to go to war. I don’t want a war Sev! Too many people might get hurt, my family among them!”

“I… there might be a solution...”

“What? Tell me, I’m desperate!”

“I was reading one of the old grimoires found in the Prince’s vault, it was very old magic and had some ancient potion recipes. The potions there are old, so old that I seriously doubt anyone would be able to find out that they were administered. Maybe there will be something that could help us…”

“Poison? You really want to kill him?”

“And what other option do we have?!” Sev jumps up and starts pacing the room. There was never a person in his life he hated so much as Albus Percival Wulfric Brian bloody Dumbledore! Even his drunk of a father was better than him. The headmaster ruined lives of so many people, so many of his friends, if anyone deserved death it would be him. His agitated pacing is stopped by Lucius, suddenly standing in his path. The blond grabs him by his upper arms and makes him look at him.

“I don’t want you to tarnish your soul with a murder Sev. It is not an easy thing to do, even if you won’t get caught you will be wearing that guilt for the rest of your life.” anguish apparent on his face. It reminds Sev of times when they were both under the thumb of crazy Tom, he was relatively safe, hidden at Hogwarts, but Lucius was not. He was forced to do many things to protect his loved ones, things he never speaks of…

“Lucius, did you? Did you kill someone?” He doesn’t reply, but his eyes say it all. Severus grabs him and pulls him into a hug, squeezing so tight it almost hurts.

“I’m so sorry Lucius, so sorry you had to endure all of that. Trust me if I could return time…” his voice breaks a little at that idea.

“Shh, I know Sev, I know. There is nothing you could do and I know I could not avoid it either, it’s just… knowing and accepting it are two different things. I don’t want you to go through what I did. I wouldn’t wish it onto anyone, especially my best friend.” he finishes sadly.

 

It is the next morning when Tom finally decides to talk to his mate about one thing he could not get off of his mind. He wanted to talk to him previous night, but when he saw how tired Lucius was, he decided to wait. He steps into his mate’s office and closes the door quietly.

“Tom? Did something happened?”

“Everything is alright, Haddy is having a lesson with Cissa, so I thought we could talk.”

“What about?” Lucius is surprised, his beloved looks nervous, he can even feel it through their bond. Tom motions him to sit with him in front of the fire and Lucius quickly joins him. He sits next to him on the sofa, placing the palm of his hand on his cheek.

“What is it?”

“I… What happened yesterday in Dumbledore’s office made me think” Lucius eyebrows shot up in surprise at the unexpected start. Tom takes a deep breath, trying to find the right words: “Do you think Haddy should see a mind healer too?”

“Mind healer? I don’t understand…”

Tom takes both his hands and hold them in his bigger palms. “I believe a mind healer would help overcome what happened to him. Growing up with those horrible muggles, being in constant danger, finding out that all you know is a lie…. It is a lot to process, having someone to talk to might be good for him.”

Lucius first instinct is immediate rejection. His Hadrian is completely fine, he does not need a stranger to talk to, he has his family.. “He has me, us, to talk to. I don’t think it is a good idea…”

“Didn’t you noticed how weirdly he behaves sometimes?”

Lucius frowns, going through the last few months in his head, but he does not remember any weird behaviour. Tom can see he wants to protest, so he quickly continues: “He is not acting his age. He is almost an adult, but sometimes be behaves much younger. I mean, what sixteen year old requires as much attention as him? He cries, pouts and is latched either onto you or Draco all the time, it is not healthy!”

Lucius gets angry: “Imagine yourself in his position! If you would be in the orphanage and suddenly someone came for you, how would you react? Wouldn’t you ‘latch’ onto them? Wouldn’t you act more childish than normal? Hell, I bet this is the first time he even CAN act childishly!”

“That’s the thing, I wouldn’t! Just because someone is of your own blood, doesn’t mean you can trust him, but he doesn’t seem to have any issues with that. It is weird! You, I and Draco were his enemies, I tried to kill him and one test in the bank and suddenly he calls me Dad?”

“But that has nothing to do with a mind healer! This is a family thing, some stranger has no place here!” Lucius is angry.  _ I know my angel, he is a sweet, forgiving boy with a big hart. We should be grateful we have him and not trying to ‘cure’ him from that! _

“What are you afraid of? Social stigma? You know there is no shame in visiting a healer, no one will think anything less of him”

“How dare you to suggest I would put a social norm above the wellbeing of my child?!” Lucius jumps up, enraged beyond reason. “There is nothing wrong about how he behaves and I won’t tell him there is! Don’t you see? The minute we will mention a mind healer, he will think that we think there is something wrong with him! He will close off! I won’t do that! Won’t allow you to do that. Hadrian is okay, yes, he is acting childishly, but I know it is just a phase. He needs to compensate the horror that was his childhood with those monsters!”

It is clear that Tom wants to argue further, but Luc had enough. He raises a hand, palm facing Tom to stop him: “I know you are concerned and I know you mean well, but trust me in this. It won’t help, Hadrian just needs time to find his footing and his place in this household. He needs his time to enjoy being a kid, please my love” his sits back down next to his mate, waiting anxiously on his answer.

Tom is looking at his beautiful mate, at the concern and love shining through his eyes. He trusts Lucius, trusts him with his life and that decides that. He leans closer, kissing him gently: “Okay my beloved, I will trust you. You’re a parent for much longer, so I will trust your judgement.”

Lucius shoulders drop in obvious relief. “Thank you.”


	22. Old and young, everybody is scheming

The Slytherin common room is buzzing with voices despite it being long after curfew. Some of the personal house elves are walking among the students, offering beveridges and something to nibble on.

Every single member of the Slytherin House is present, Draco demanded them to attend. Also Lysander and Luna are there, Lys refused to go back to the Gryffindor tower, citing that he does not feel safe to sleep in a room with Weasley, which all, even most of the teachers could understand even if McGonagall tried to forbid it and now was glaring at him every chance she’s got.

Draco stands in front of the fireplace and clears his throat, then he clears it again, because no one heard him and they continued to talk among themselves. Nothing. “Hey! Shut up!” yells Vince with an immediate effect. The blond smiles at him gratefully and frowns on the others, showing them his displeasure at being ignored the first two tries.

“Now that I have your attention” he drawls sarcastically “I have a proposal for you. I propose a competition!” he finishes, glee evident in his voice. He has the full attention of every snake in the room instantly, for there is only few things the snakes love more than a chance to show off. “The goal is to to take revenge on a certain ginger blood traitor we all know and hate. His behaviour cannot go unpunished! So I give you a free hand my dear friends, do whatever you want to him, there is only one rule.” he pauses for dramatic effect “do NOT get caught!” He waits a bit before the excited chattering ceases, he can smell the bloodlust in the air, there is not a person here who would not want to get back at Weasel or his family for some reason or another.

“We will sit down every evening and evaluate the pranks from that day from one to ten. The one who gains the most points by Sunday, will win this two hundred years old Firewhisky and the title of the best prankster among Slytherin!”

 

The Gryffindors are enraged. Not only they lost all the points they’ve earned since the beginning of the year because of Weasley, but now he brings even more shame. Someone is pranking him almost constantly and they cannot find the culprit! Oh they know it is the snakes, but they cannot prove anything. 

It started innocently, with hiccups that would not end and an itching shampoo, then in progressed into tripping, spiders everywhere and constant farting, but this evening was the worst so far. Someone cursed him on the way to the dinner and he was turned into a girl without him even noticing it! A very ugly girl with lot of pimples, big ass and the shortest skirt.

He walked into the Hall with his usual lack of grace and headed for his spot at the Gryffindor’s table. Maybe people wouldn’t notice at first, but above his head shining pink letters glowed, stating: I AM RONNIE, WEASLEY WHORE no. 2!!! People started to turn and whisper, some laughing at loud. Ron wasn’t sure what was happening at first, he was so tired and angry from the day full of “pranks” that he just wanted to sit down and eat, but the laughing got louder and could not be ignored anymore. It was Seamus Finnigan who was brave enough to tell him and Lavender borrowed him a mirror so he can look at himself. What followed could be described only as an episode of  pure hysteria. The boy turned girl started screaming and crying, kicking and punching all around.

The teachers, well Flitwick and McGonagall, ran to him and tried to calm him and reverse the spell, but nothing was working and at the end they had to drag him out of the Great Hall with whistling and catcalls heard from every direction. All of the students could see his underpants and they were really, really dirty.

Sev can’t stop laughing, he is trying to hide it behind a napkin, but isn’t fooling anyone. The boy looked just like his mother, he was even crying like her, all wailing and red blotchy face. The cherry on top was, when some annoying little lion with a camera took a picture of him. Severus makes an immediate mental note to force the lion to relinquish the photos and make copies of them, with little more decorations they would make an ideal Christmas cards.

He knows, of course he does, that his snakes and especially Draco are behind the pranks, but who is he to forbid them? Especially when he has so much fun? Of course he is proud that none of the students managed to overcome the time when he and Draco managed to make him defecate in the middle of Great Hall.

He decides to visit the Common room after the dinner, eager to find out which one of them came up with the last prank, it was truly marvelous.

He enters the room and is assaulted by cacophony of sounds and yelling voice. Blaise Zabini stands on a table in the middle of the room waving a bottle of what looks suspiciously like Lucius’ favorite brand of Firewhiskey, extremely expensive and rare of course.

“QUIET!” he yells and all the noise suddenly stops, the students are looking at him with apprehension and some with outright fear. He glares at them for good measure and then zeroes in on Zabini. “So it was you who turned Mr. Weasley into a female?” he asks, his voice colder than Siberian winter. He can see the boy swallow, the pale throat jumping up and down, but he doesn’t dare to lie to his Head of House, he gives a small nod, barely there.

Severus starts to clap, slowly. The snakes look at him with apparent shock, mouths hanging open and then slowly, they join. Thunderous applause carries through the Hogwarts’ dungeons while Zabini, red and pleased bows before his schoolmates.

“Truly magnificent spell Mr. Zabini.” continues the professor once they quiet down “100 points to Slytherin. You should think of pursuing a Master in Transfiguration, you seem to have talent for it. Do come to me, I can help you.” Blaise jumps off of the table and approaches his Head. He was really scared when Snape came to the Common room, convinced he will get expelled, but he’s got 100 points and offer to help.  _ Snape is really a great teacher _ , the boy thinks. “Tell me, Mr. Zabini. What did you win except one of Lucius’ bottles?” he throws a reproachful glance to his godson, who is doing his best to merge with the back wall. “Ehm, I’ve got the title of the Best prankster of the Slytherin House.”

“Hmmm, is that so. Do you know I held that title for 5 years in the row?” he says smugly, before he turns to the rest of the students. “There will be no more pranks on that idiot. None of you will even look at him. If you touch him, I will make your life a living hell!” he pauses there, making sure they all understood and accepted. “Give me a month, lets leave him with a false sense of security and then you will see who the true Prankster King of the Slytherin is!”

 

Ron was tired as hell. It was his fourth day of detention with Filch and all he did was scrubb floors and furniture. His back was killing him and his hands had rough patches that bled occasionally, forcing him to scrub even more. His constant paranoia did not help either. He was constantly on edge, jumping at every sound and not sleeping much.

There was not a prank played on him for almost a month, none of the snakes even looked in his direction, but he could not get rid of a feeling like something horrible will happen and soon. He was distracted, rude, barely slept and one day it got better of him and he yelled at McGonagall. He knew he is in deep shit the second the words left his mouth, he could see it in her eyes. So now he is in detention with the evil gaffer and cannot go to dinner till he finishes two last classrooms.

He knows that the snakes are to blame for his suffering, who else? But he is unable to find a proof, so the teachers won’t help him. His housemates, the traitors, won’t help him either. They had his back at the beginning, he must admit, but as his temper got fouler, they stopped helping and started to avoid him instead. He is a Weasley, the most Gryffindor of Gryffindors and those idiots shun him! He will show them, show them all! Lion or snake, he doesn’t give a shit anymore. They will all suffer, he will show them! Right after he gets a little bit of sleep.

He lays his head on one of the tables he just scrubbed and falls into a deep slumber.

“BOY!” a loud roar from the squib makes him wake. He flaps his hands to keep balance but in the end falls down anyway. He starts to scramble up, cursing loudly when he sees her. The most beautiful creature on Earth. Just one look makes him fall in love and he knows instantly, he will love her till his last breath. She is radiant, with big green eyes, that seem to return his interest, with perfect golden brown hair, that invite him to bury his hands in them…. He smiles at her, his best smile, the one he trained in front of the mirror for the day he will be famous and on a cover of the Prophet, looking at her hopefully. She cocks her head, assessing him. She flicks her tongue out, slowly, almost like tasting the air and he knows he was accepted. He throws himself at her, doing his best to claim his first kiss.

 

The students are in the Great Hall, having dinner when the tall door burst open and in marches the caretaker. His face has this almost impossible shade of puce and he is clutching the flea bitted beast, Mrs. Norris in his right arm. He almost looks as if he is protecting her from the boy, whose ear is firmly clutched in his left hand. The boy is fighting him, reaching out his hands and trying to touch the cat.

“Headmaster! Help me!” the old man yells.

“What is happening Argus?” Dumbledore jumps out of his chair, smiling benevolently from his post above all.

“This little… pervert! Tried to force himself on poor Mrs. Norris!” the caretaker’s voice trembles, he seems shocked and horrified at the mere memory.

“Force… I’m afraid I don’t understand you my friend, Mrs. Norris is a cat….”

‘You don’t think I know that?! We walked into a room and he simply jumped on her! Kissed her and even tried to stick his disgusting tongue into her mouth! My poor dear, she will never be the same, I can feel her trembling!” he snuggles the cat closer and she miaows pitifully into his greasy hair. Everybody is staring, their eyes jumping from the Headmaster, who looks like he does not completely understand what Filch is trying to suggest here, to the caretaker who is clearly horrified to the redhead who is still trying to reach the damn cat.

The headmaster moves his seat back and walks through the Hall to the caretaker. He freezes the still struggling boy, binding his hands to his torso with thick brown ropes. He catches his chin and makes him look into his eyes.

“Severus! Please join us!”

The Potions professor takes his time, he puts down his cutlery, slowly and stands from his place at the table. He glides between the tables as slowly as possible without looking like he is stalling and approaches the trio.

“Yes, Headmaster?”

“I believe he is under influence of some potion, something like Amortencia, could you have a look to confirm it?”

Sev grabs the boy by his hair, forcibly turning his face away from the cat again. He can see the pink tinge to the whites of his eyes, can smell the sweet vapors on his breath.

“This is not the Amortencia. I believe it is an old potion, stemming from the are of today’s Middle East, called Venenum philtrum. The one who consumes it, falls in love with the first living being he notices and it is not only about love, but there strong desire, or we could say lust focused on the object of their obsession.” he explains, easily falling into his ‘teacher mode’.

“But how do we stop him?!” Filch’s anguished cry interrupts the silence. He squeezes the fleabag more closely, making it emit a long displeased mrooow.

“We can’t” the professor explains calmly “the bezoar will be of no use for this particular potion, we simply need to let it run its course. And before you ask, it can take day or two depending on how big was the dosage comparing to his body mass. Luckily it is Friday, so Mr. Weasley won’t miss any classes while he is… recovering. Maybe it would be best to keep him tied up in the infirmary, we wouldn’t want him to hurt her in his… passion. Now, if you’d allow it, I would like to return to my dinner. I’m quite famished” he turns sharply, the black coat billowing in invisible wind and marches towards the head table. His eyes flicker towards his House’s table, finding the shocked eyes of one Blaise Zabini and… winks at him.

Only the rigid pureblood upbringing allows the snakes to keep straight faces.

  
  


The young Slytherins were not the only ones plotting revenge. Far away from the cold Hogwarts’ halls, in a beautiful mansion met a group of old friends and allies. They did not meet to catch up and exchange gossip, no, their goal was much more sinister, revenge.

Hadrian is sitting behind the grating of a vent overlooking the biggest meeting hall of the Malfoy manor. He is grateful, for once in his life, for his lithe and short figure. It allowed him to fit into the vent and eavesdrop on his parents and their friends. He was not allowed to join them in the room, but Papa promised to summarize what they were talking about later on. But Haddy wanted to hear it on his own, it’s not that he does not believe Papa to tell him the truth, but maybe he would keep parts to himself and that would suck.

The room is full of people, almost 50 of them, some of them are masked, some of them are not. Bella is wearing a mask, but it is this little thing across her eyes, completely made of lace, that leaves almost no space for imagination. It is beautiful, despite its impracticality, but Haddy likes it and from the looks he is giving her, Rodolphus likes it as well. His eyes are glued to his wife almost constantly and Haddy could swear he saw him surreptitiously adjust himself under the table, ewww.

Tom is sitting at the head of the table with Lucius and Rodo on his right and left. Haddy doesn’t know a large portion of those present, he knows some of the Death eaters, his Uncle Xeno, Sev, but the others are strangers. Tom gathered his old followers and others sympathetic to their cause he knows he can trust, some of those present would surprise even Dumbledore, representants of the goblin nation were present, the Vampire king Vlad the XII., Alpha of the British werewolves, the Veela queen, several high Ministry officers etc.

“Dear friends.” Tom stands up “it is with great joy I welcome you in our house. It warms my heart to see you and to hear that you’re ready to take down the biggest threat to our society since the last great muggle war.” He is not afraid to talk openly, every single person here signed an agreement that would prevent them talking about it even under Veritaserum. He was against it at first, afraid it would offend them, but his dearest mate convinced him that it is necessary and persuaded them to sign it. Lucius was a true blessing, his natural charm and skilled tongue made people eat out of the palm of his hand no matter their status.

“Dumbledore is not only endangering the way we live, but is directly responsible for a lot of personal pain in my family. He kidnapped my child, as well as child of my Second, he enslaved me under his will and forced me to do unspeakable things…” his voice goes quiet, eyes staring in the distance. He is still missing majority of the memories from the time under the Headmaster’s tumb, but the things he does remember haunt him. Lucius calmly lays a hand on his arm, tearing him from the dark recesses of his mind. He smiles at his mate, the light of his life, gratefully. Then he turns back. Those present can see hard steel resolve settle in his eyes, his posture straightening “I invited you all here with one goal in mind. To declare a war. War against those who seek to destroy us for their own personal gain or misguided view.  We must rid this world of Dumbledore or die trying!”

Lucius is watching the others listen to Tom and slowly fall under his spell. His love is a brilliant politician, he always knows what to say and when and can inspire unwavering loyalty. It is the reason why so many stayed faithful despite his madness. His speech was short, but showed them that he won’t back out no matter what. He will fight to the death and Lucius will be on his side to the end. It gives them confidence, something to believe in. For so long the creatures were treated as second class citizens, unable to fight against the laws and oppression of Dumbledore’s rule, so long the purebloods were victimized and accused of racism against muggles, that they lost their influence and even will to fight for what they knew is right.

Srorg, the goblin in charge of Slytherin/Peverell accounts clears his throat. “Thank you Lord Peverell for inviting the Nation. You and your family are true friends of goblins and we hold you in the highest regard.” he bows his head towards Tom and then towards Lucius as well. “The goblin nation is prepared to stand by you in the war. We will do everything we can to get rid of the plague known as Dumbledore.”

“Thank you Master Srorg. Maybe you could update us and those present on the investigation led by your kin on the traitor?”

“Certainly.” The goblin looks over those present. “The goblin nation started an audit of records based on suspicion that the Headmaster is illegally using funds that do not belong to him. What we found is disconcerning. We’re ashamed to admit that several long term employees were revealed willingly or unintentionally working for him instead the good of the Bank. They were interrogated and the traitors await justice in our care” he smiles, causing chills to run up the backs of those present. His smile is cruel, full of teeth and ill intent. The Goblins are known for their cruelty to those who they consider traitors and there are legends, told only in whisper about the extraordinary cruel torture that awaits those who betray them. Those who worked for Dumbledore had to be brave, or extremely stupid.

The old goblin waives his hand and a stack of papers appears in front of those present. “The audit is not enclosed yet, what you see are the preliminary results. Embezzlement of funds meant for Hogwarts’ stipendiums, stealing from Lord Black, using the Wizengamot seats of the Prince family based on false letter of attorney etc. He has several accounts open under different aliases and we’re currently gathering means to prove that he is the owner of these accounts. You can take those papers, they are charmed so no one will see what is in there, but they’re missing the worst we found.” He pauses here, making sure he has the attention of every single person in the room. “The funds transferred to his accounts, those under aliases or his own, are far greater than what is missing from Lord Black’s or the school’s accounts. We traced the source of the money and found out, that they’re coming from vaults of the families whose lines are thought to be lost or dead. We have a suspicion, even if not yet proven as we do not have access to all Ministry documents, that he somehow found a way how to make himself an heir of lines that have no heirs. At least not in our society.” The goblin turns towards Mr. Wright, the Head of Department of records at the Ministry. “If Mr. Wright would allow it, we would like to investigate the records stored at the Ministry to find out how is it possible.”

The man, in his fifties with thinning dark brown hair, takes off his glasses and starts to absentmindedly clean them against his sleeve. He was on Tom’s side, if not openly, since almost the beginning, of course he was not a Head of a department back then, just an officer, but still. The man was shrewd and cunning, a valuable asset. He married a Nymph and so he could see firsthand, how the life of those with creature’s blood got treated as a result of Dumbledore’s meddlings. “I would be honored to help, Master goblin, however we need to be cautious. Not all of my employees support our view and if the word gets to Dumbledore…” he did not have to finish, they all knew what would happen, how quickly would the documents disappear, if they are even there. “My older son, Martin, just started an internship with the Tax department of your institution. I’m sure he will be glad to help, he is half nymph you see and therefore not particularly fond of our Headmaster.” The goblin smiled again “Ah sure, young Martin, well the Slytherin/Peverell accounts are vast, I could always use a fresh pair of eyes to check whether we’re handling the taxing efficiently enough. Unfortunately it may come with heightened workload for few months so your son might often take his work home, if you know what I mean.”

“But of course, I too often take my work home and as Martin still lives with us, we can keep each other company” they share conspiratory smiles, pleased that they found a solution so quickly. Truly the situation could not be more ideal, no one would notice if one young analyst would be assigned to help an overworked account manager, it happens every day after all.

The others feel their hope rising, pleased that they have a plan, at least partially.

Xeno is the one that speaks next “I will start with introducing myself as I did not meet many of you before. My name is Xenophilius Lovegood and I am the owner of the Quibbler” he purposely ignores the murmuring, he knows the reputation his paper holds “I was printing, in cooperation with Miss Skeeter, a series of articles regarding the situation in Hogwarts, from the dangerous events such as the Triwizard tournament to some of the security measures such as allowing dementors into the school and forbidding parents to take the children out except in emergency cases etc. I must admit the results were mixed, both Miss Skeeter and I received rather large amount of correspondence and it was not always pleasant. Well, what is life without few deaththreaths?” he tries to laugh it off, even though some of the letters were very specific, some people really are disturbed. The moment he looks up he knows that mentioning them was a mistake. His brother is standing, almost trembling in rage.

“Someone threatened you? Who? I will murder them with my own hands!” his hands, with talons slowly growing rose up almost involuntary, fingers clenching as if squeezing an invisible neck.

“Calm brother.” Xeno raises his hand, as if trying to stop Lucius from running out and chasing the offenders. “It’s not like they signed themselves.”

“Enough! I had enough! You’re moving here and I won’t accept any excuse. It is not safe for you to be on your own!” With a weary sigh Xeno concedes, he did not sleep much in the last weeks, paranoia and fear forcing him to stay awake. He and his little moon would be much safer in the Manor.

“We could try and trace the magical signature of those who sent those threats” pipes up a young witch from the other side of the room. She works at DMLE and knows few spells that might help. “We could find out the culprits and charge them. They could face heavy fines if not a prison time. It can help us diminish the Headmaster’s ranks.”

“Excellent idea my dear” her mother agrees. They are both purebloods, from the Yaxley family. Their Head of the house was always on Tom’s side as most of the Sacred 28. “Maybe we cannot hit Dumbledore directly yet. But we can take out his support one by one. Discrediting them would throw a bad light on him as well. Do we have a list of his knows supporters?” she turns to Tom.

He stands up, waving his hand. A big, old fashioned chalkboard appears behind him and he starts making a list:

  * The Weasley family
  * Alastor Moody
  * Kingsley Shacklebolt
  * Remus Lupin
  * Andromeda Tonks
  * Aberforth Dumbledore
  * Arabella Figg
  * Dedalus Diggle
  * Elphias Doge
  * Emmeline Vance
  * Minerva McGonagall
  * Mundungus Fletcher
  * Rubeus Hagrid
  * Hestia Jones
  * Sturgis Podmore
  * Severus Snape



 

Tom smiles at the shocked gasps heard as he adds the last name. Many of those present turn their glares towards Severus. “This is the core of the organization known as Order of the Phoenix. Severus Snape is a member of this organization, as well as our spy for the last 15 years.” Tom smiles at the disbelieving murmur, while Lucius lays a reassuring hand on Sev’s. “Severus, my brother in anything but blood, put himself at great risk, taking his position as the Hogwarts’ Potions professor and infiltrated the Order. Without his personal sacrifice we would not be here today, I would not be here.” Tom slowly walks behind Severus, pulling him from his seat and hugging him. “Thank you my friend.” It is a statement as well as show of gratitude. He is clearly showing all present, that he trusts Sev explicitly and they should as well. He will not stand for any doubts in his ranks, not against his son’s future mate.

 

“We should pick those we will focus on first, depending on their influence in society and in the Order.” Sev takes the word “I think we can disregard Aberforth, Figg, Hagrid and Fletcher, they have no influence. Nutjob, squib, half giant expelled from school and a thief, no matter what they say or where, they would not be taken seriously. The biggest threats are Kingsley Shacklebolt and Minerva McGonagall, they are well known and respected, however I don’t see what we can use against them, unless we want to say that Minerva is favoring her lions”

“Well she is not the only Head of the house who likes to play favorites” quips Lucius and winks at his friend, they all know that Sev always takes side of his snakes. Everybody laughs at that and the tense atmosphere remaining after his reveal as a spy disappears.

Severus continues “The others are not as known and influential, maybe we could just take some of them and lock them somewhere far away. But I suggest we openly focus on Alastor Moody and the Weasley family. They are well known and widely respected, maybe it’s time to correct the public’s opinion.”

“I agree” Nott Sr. says. “We have a lot of dirt on them, especially Moody. It seems like most of the people forgot how unstable and dangerous he can be.”

“What do you suggest? An article focused on him?”

“Hmmm, maybe a physical demonstration would be more useful, the article can wait after. If we could get him to attack an innocent person somewhere in public, it would create a scandal that even Dumbledore can’t cover. We just need to convince him that we’re attacking him without looking like it and make him attack us.”

“Ohh, I know! He hates me and Rodo, if he saw us in the Diagon for example, he would attack without a thought, thinking we came for him.”

“But that is too dangerous Bella! What if they catch you? I don’t want you to go back to Azkaban!”

“Hmm, but what if they’re not there at all love?” Lucius squeezes his mate’s hand “we can get someone a trinket, like the one Haddy has to make them look like Rodo and Bella with some additional glamours on, so the charm affects only him and once the DMLE arrives, we would claim that he attacked us. That’s a brilliant plan Nott! And I volunteer.” he smiles at his husband, he can see in his eyes that Tom isn’t thrilled by the idea of putting him in potential harm’s way, but Lucius knows it must be at least one of them. They need to show their followers how dedicated they are with more than just words. “And I will go with you” Cissa agrees “we can say we were just doing some light shopping when he attacked us out of nowhere. It won’t be suspicious for us to be in the Alley and it would help us keep our allies hidden.” Lucius just kisses her hand in answer, pleased that she agrees with him.

There is nothing more than to agree, but Tom still doesn’t like it. He secretly vows to put as many protection charms on them as possible, he won’t risk losing them from some stray spell.

“I was thinking about the Weasley’s” Xeno adds his two knuts “I live near them and I have to say that the house they call a home is a… disgrace. I know being poor is not a sin, but maybe we could raise a concern, you know an anonymous tip to Social service that maybe they do not provide sufficient care to their children? And then make an article about it?”

“Isn’t that little bit low? You know going after their children…”

“But we won’t. If they can take of their children then they have nothing to worry about.”

“You know I was always wondering how they managed to put 7 children through Hogwarts with such a small income” Lord Burke muses at loud. “She is not working, is she?”

“No, she is not. I believe they had all scholarships.”

“But, but they don’t have the grades for scholarship! Didn’t the twins pass only with 3 O.W.L.s?” Lucius turns to Severus.

“Yes, they did. They were smart boys, they just did not care.”

“But you have to have certain grade level to keep the scholarship! We reviewed the rules with the Board just last year! And I sincerely doubt that horrible boy has good grades, he does not look very smart.” Lucius is seething. He knows the old goat is behind it, not only he takes the funds from the school, but is spending them wherever he likes disregarding all the rules. “We need to review the scholarship funding! I will call the board for next week and tell them that someone gave me a tip in private, they need to authorize the review.”

“I’m sure they will love.” Tom pats his hand, clenched into a fist on the table. “How about we take a break and then we can talk what to do with Headmaster himself.” he waits for the other’s consent and then stands, but he does not leave the room or call a house elf. Instead he looks sharply up, straight at the ventilation. “Would you like to join us son or would you prefer to hide in there all night?” he of course knew Hadrian was hidden and listening, he erected wards around the room that told him about every living being in vicinity. If he did not allow it, Haddy would not hear a sound. Tom does not wait for an answer, he raises his wand, removing the grate covering and levitates the boy out straight into his arms.

The boy slowly turns to the room, face red and eyes avoiding to his parents and waves awkwardly: “Hello, I am Hadrian Gaunt Malf…” he can’t finish, his introduction is interrupted by a large sneeze, that makes clouds of dust raise from his clothes.

“Maybe you’d like to freshen before the dinner” Lucius’ tone could freeze the Sun.

“Yes Papa.”


	23. How to catch a spider

Haddy is all proper again, thank Merlin for house elves, trying to slide into the dining room unnoticed. Papa of course notices him and becomes him closer towards the empty seat on his right side.  _ Great _ . Haddy tries his best to keep his emotions hidden and to keep blank face like a proper pureblood. They eat, course after course, keeping a light conversation. Haddy doesn’t participate, he doesn’t even bring his head up until the dessert course comes and his plate remains empty. He looks up, confusion clear in his face when he sees the chocolate cake on his Papa’s plate, he looks around but it seems like everyone else got one. He looks around for an elf to complain when he catches Papa’s look. His eyebrows are arched, just a tiny bit, it would be almost imperceivable to anyone else in the room, the Lord must keep his mask in place after all, but Haddy can see it clearly and knows that no cake is his punishment for eavesdropping.  _ Well it could be worse, even if the cake looks amazing. Now I just need to get Papa to forgive me and maybe he will let me have some later. _ Normally he would plaster himself against Lucius’ side and make puppy dog eyes till he is forgiven, but he can’t do that here, it would not be proper.  _ Damn, all the pureblood rules are so bloody stupid! _

 

They leave a little bit of time between dinner and the second part of the meeting, as Narcissa feared that talking about the old goat so soon after a meal might cause indigestion. The guests are mingling, exchanging gossips and Lucius uses the general ruckuss to slip out of the room, pulling Xeno with him.

“What is it brother?” the older man asks.

Lucius pulls him up to the stairs and than to the right into what is dubbed the family wing of the Manor. The guests are not allowed to come here, so the hallways are not filled with paintings of long dead and judging relatives, but with beautiful paintings depicting nature, a deer on a pasture, some swans slowly crossing a lake, it looks more homely, if an opulent ancient manor can be called homely.

“Come on Lucius, what is going on?” Xeno asks again with a smile on his face. If he knew that giving in would cause this much joy to his sibling, he would agree to move in a long time ago.

“This is the family wing as you can see, at the end is the Master bedroom with Draco and Hadrian’s rooms to the right. Cissa decided to move to the higher floor as a ‘simple room’ could not give her enough space for her dress. She combined three rooms into her closet, can you believe that? As if she could not just magically enlarge one!” he rolls his eyes to show his brother what exactly he thinks of this foolishness and continues down the hallway “But it paid out at the end because it gave me the opportunity to create this room for you.” He pushes open the door on the left side of the master bedroom and pulls him in.

Xeno knows he should be looking at the room, but he cannot seem to tear his eyes away from his little brother, from the joy and shy hope in his eyes. He does not look like the mighty lord he is, the expression more reminiscent of a child shyly presenting their painting to a parent. Fierce and protective love flares inside his hart and he pulls the younger man into his arms “Thank you brother, it is perfect” he kisses him gently on his forehead before releasing him and stepping into the room. The room is spacious, made in a gentle green color he was always particularly fond of. It is simply beautiful.

“Luna’s room is right next door, we painted it in soft purple, I hope she will like it.”

“I’m sure she will brother, don’t you worry. Luna would like it in any possible color except orange. She hates orange, I have no idea why” he laughs.

“Ugh, who would paint a room in orange? It would be like living inside of a big… well orange.” the both laugh at the ludicrous idea. “Well… can I order the elves to bring your things in?”

“Of course brother”

“Cadby!”

“Yes, Master?”

“My brother will be moving here, this will be his room and next one the room of his daughter, make sure all their belongings are transferred here. You can do most of it tomorrow, but we need something from his house” he turns back to his brother “where did you put those threats?”

“They are in a wooden box on the mantle in my office, but you really don’t have to bother the elf with it, I can go for them myself.”

“Nonsense, I’m not risking your life, there is no threat for the house elf, but who knows what could happen to you?! Cadby, go and bring me that box.”

“As my Lord commands” two soft pops later and the elf is back, handing it over to his master. Lucius goes to open it, he wants to see what his brother had to deal with, but Xeno stops him. “No, please let’s just hand it over to the Yaxley girl and be done with it.”

“Is it really that bad?”

Xeno does not reply, simply taking him by hand and leading him back towards their guests. But well, even no answer is an answer.

 

The brothers return to the main meeting hall, heading for the Yaxley heiress. Lucius notices Hadrian, sitting hidden behind his mate, munching on the chocolate cake he did not get at dinner. He pretends not to see, but promises himself to talk to Tom afterwards.  _ He can't just give it to him when I said no! Parents need to work together, otherwise the boy will have no discipline. Tom is lucky we have guests! Just wait my love, we will see how you will like your punishment! _

Priscilla takes the box from Xeno, opening it gingerly. It is full of parchments and even some muggle papers.

“Were any of the letters cursed?” she asks. She saw people inducing parchment will all kind of spells, some more dangerous than others.

Xeno looks at his brother from the corner of his eye, unwilling to cause him more concern, but at the end admits “There were some that were cursed, it ranged from boils to those that made me sick for a few days…” he can feel the rage rise in Lucius, so he quickly continues “but nothing I was not able to handle and there are no lasting effects. I put a note on each that contained a curse.”

“This is unacceptable! Priscilla we need to find out who sent them and fast!”

“Of course Lord Malfoy, I will look at it first thing in the morning. In the meantime please do not open any more.”

“But the letters did not contain just negative replies! There were those offering support or talking about their own issues with the Headmaster! We cannot ignore them, these people need our help too!”

“Hmm, I see. How about this, we have this device at the Ministry that helps detect dangerous post, but I can't take it, we have just the one as it is quite costly.” she admits.

“Money are no concern, tell me what is this device and where to get it and I can have the elves buy it.”

“Of course, I will find out tomorrow and owl you, Sir.”

“Thank you dear.”

 

Few more minutes of mingling and they move back to their seats in the meeting hall. Haddy sneaks in too and Lucius lets him, there is no reason to send him away now that he heard the first half. He forbid him from attending, because he was not sure how the discussion might go and was afraid that his angel might be scared by some of the dangerous visitors. He pulls the boy into the chair next to him, wanting to have him close in case his worries prove true.

Tom takes the word again.

“We spent the first half of this meeting focusing on how we can get rid of the most dangerous Light supporters. We heard some great plans how to get rid of the Weasleys, Mad Eyed Moody and other minions hidden within the Bank, however now is the time to focus on our main enemy, the great spider in their mist, Dumbledore.

The man is a plague to our society, he is breaking treaties, bonds and families just to get more power. He is too strong to take on directly, I acknowledge that, he build his influence over his entire life and had the ears of public and Ministry, but we must fight him! We must protect our heritage, our friends.” he bows his head to the representants of the various creatures present “There is no one else who can see behind his mask, there is no one else who can defend our magic!”

The hall falls into silence, everyone is mulling over their leader's words, taking them as their own. They all know that magic is slowly dying in their world, that with every child born with muggle blood a piece of magic dies. But what can they do about it?

“Let's kill that old bastard!” Fenrir Greyback, the High Alpha of the british packs yells into the silence. “I will do it myself! I will tear him to pieces for what he’s done to us!” his voice is full of anger and pain. His people live in squalor, freezing and hungry, so many pups and elders died in their dens because they could not afford even the basic necessities. He does what he can to protect and help them, but it is simply not enough. “My people are suffering for years because of him and for what? Because we turn to wolves for a few nights a month? He made us into monsters that eat children, let me show him what monster I really am!”

Tom leaves his seat and approaches the Alpha still trembling in rage, gently laying a hand on his shoulder. “Peace my friend, we will help you anyway we can. Will you stay here tonight? We can talk about how to help your people in the morning, we will figure out what to do until he’s gone.” he waits till the man nods, although reluctantly before continuing

“I cannot let you kill him Fen” he sees the protest rising in the werewolf’s face “You would make him a martyr. If he would be killed by a creature, it would just confirm everything he says about you. His followers would use it to eradicate your kind from the face of the Earth. You will be hunted till the last one dies.”

The werewolf’s shoulders drop in defeat, he knows what Tom is saying is wise, he just can’t stand it anymore. He grew up on stories of a mighty nation of werewolves, respected and sought after as great allies, but by the time he took over the packs those days were gone, nothing more than a memory. He looks up at the man who offered him hope for the first time in fifteen years “I swear to you my loyalty and the loyalty of my packs. I will follow your command, even though it is not what I wish” he bares his throat to Tom, gesture of the highest trust in werewolf society and he knows his decision was right when Tom bares his as well. The fact that he knew the significance behind it and replied in kind, showed more than anything else that the man in front understood and valued him. It was a good feeling, the spark of hope he felt when he was called here and listened to their plans grew into a flame.

Tom smiles at him, understanding and to surprise of everyone present, hugs him close.

 

It is Severus who speaks after Tom returns to his place.

“You are both right I’m afraid. The only way how to get rid of the Headmaster is his death, but it needs to look naturally, like he died from old age, therefore I suggest a poison. I’ve been researching…”

“NO!” Lucius decides to stop him right there “I already told you, I will not let you poison him! What if someone finds out? Do you want to spend your life in the Azkaban? Serving dementors for dinner?!”

“There is no other way! And if the price is spending my life in prison, it is a risk I’m willing to take!”

Before Lucius can retort, a crystal glass flies through the room, aiming for Severus’ head. He ducks, avoiding it just barely.

Hadrian had enough!  _ He will not sit by and watch Severus offer to sacrifice himself and their future happiness, because the old fucker was not able to do the right thing and die already! _

The boy stands on top of the chair where all could see him, hands on hips and hair standing, revealing his veela heritage. “You will do no such thing! Do you hear me Severus?! You will NOT sacrifice yourself or Merlin help me, I will march straight to the Azkaban and kill you myself!”

“But…”

“NO! I SAID NO! I don’t want to hear another word about it! I will not let you ruin our future because you are a self-sacrificing MORON! What are you, a Gryffindor?!”

Shocked gasps and quiet snickers are heard around the room, Lucius tries to keep straight face and pull his son from the furniture, but cannot hold back his laughter when he sees Severus’ outraged expression.

“Come on angel, sit down, we do not stand on the furniture” he pulls him down, only to have the boy’s scowl turn to him “Really? That is your concern right now? That I’m standing on a stupid chair?” but Luc can see his mouth twitch at the absurdity of the situation.

Lucius does not answer, just pulls the boy down and right into his arms, hugging him close “Don’t worry love, I won’t let your stupid mate do it.” he tries to reassure his boy, he can feel his small frame tremble and he is sure it is not just rage, his suspicion is confirmed when Hadrian hides his face into his neck and he can feel the wetness of his tears.

 

“Do we have to kill him? What if there is another way?” Rab starts slowly. “I mean, all his power, all his positions are based on the fact, that he is considered to be an extraordinarily strong wizard, that he defeated Grindelwald. If we take his magic, he will not be able to keep them, no?” he looks towards Tom.

“I’m not sure… it is a truth that there is no squib in the Wizengamot or the IWC, but I’m not sure if there is a law specifically against it, however it would be possible to spin in into a scandal, saying Dumbledore lost his magic because of all the things he’s done…, either way, there is no way how we can take someones magic, it is impossible.”

“Actually, there might be a way. When you… I mean Reggie, he was working on a spell or something that would be able to do exactly that, he wanted to use it on Dumbledore.”

“Reggie? Oh my god Reggie! Where is he?” Tom jumps out of the chair looking around frantically as if he expects the boy suddenly appear next to him.  _ Why is he not here with us? My sweet Reggie, I hope that brute, his brother did not hurt him! _

He looks towards his mate and dread starts to creep inside his soul at the look of pain he can see in those beloved silver eyes. “Where is my Reggie Lucius?” he asks, afraid of the answer.

Lucius nudges Hadrian off of his lap and stands. He can feel Tom’s fear through their bond, he can feel how it envelopes his love. Tom considered Reggie the younger brother he never had, he was fiercely protective of him and Lucius was dreading this moment for weeks now. “I don’t know my love, he disappeared, both he and his mother disappeared shortly after you did. We never found out how or who did it, but… it’s been years and no one have seen them, we believe they are both dead. I’m sorry.” he melts himself against Tom’s side, holding him up when the shock and grief make his knees go weak.

“No! I don’t believe you! Reggie cannot be gone, he can’t!” Tom buries his face into his mate’s hair, not caring about how it looks like, not afraid to show weakness in front of his followers.

Lucius strokes his hair gently, but the shaking does not stop, their bond is full of despair and he knows that he needs to get him away. He needs to take care of him and he can’t do it here. He looks towards the people gathered, all watching them with sad, pitying looks “I apologize, but I think we need to end our meeting sooner than expected. Thank you all for coming tonight. I will… I…”

“It is okay Lucius, we all understand the need to take care of one’s mate in such a difficult situation. Go, take him to bed.”

He nods gratefully, leading Tom out and then picking him up bridal style once they are outside of the door.

 

The others fall silent again. Tom’s loss reminding them of all those they’ve lost in recent years, families, friends and mates alike. Hundreds of lives destroyed.

It is Rab again who interrupts the silence “I just wanted to say, that maybe we could try to recreate and continue Reggie’s research if we found his notes or something.” he is slumped sideways into his brother, quiet tears streaming down his face. Most of them know that Reggie was his best friend and the ones that are closest to him know that they were much more. They were in love and planned to get married.

Hadrian looks towards Severus, their minds going back to the room hidden at Grimmauld place. If Regulus lived there, the notes might be hidden somewhere among his things.

“Do you think it’s in there?” Haddy asks breathlessly.

“I think it is the best shot we have at finding it.” Severus agrees.

“So what are we waiting on? Let’s go!”

“What are you talking about? Where are we going?” Bella asks, confused.

“We can’t tell you, the place is under Fidelius, but some of Reggie’s old things might be hidden there.” he explains and turns back towards Hadrian. “We can’t go there right now little one. The Order is back and it would be too suspicious for me to just appear there without a summon, not to mention you.”

“Can’t we ask the elf?”

“It would be best if we could go through the things as Reggie left them, I’m afraid that the house elf could mix them up or would not bring all of it.”

“Then help me kick them out of there and we can all go!” Haddy is starting to get angry, why must Severus be always so reasonable?

“But if we do that they will know you have taken your Lordship, we will ruin our plans in Wizengamot. No, it would be best to do it secretly. The Order’s regular meeting is coming up in few weeks, it will give me the excuse to go to the house and look for what we need.”

“And if you won’t find it?”

“Well, then I will keep my promise and we will kick them out of there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wueeej a new chapter! Finally got back to this! Hope you'll like it.  
> Comments are always welcomed :)


	24. His furry little problem

Hadrian is so relieved when Mama finally allows him to say goodbye to their guests and he can follow his parents upstairs. He is worried about his dad.

_ He looked absolutely crushed when they started to talk about Regulus. Reggie is a cool guy, but I had no idea they were so close. Should I tell him about the portrait? Will I be even able to? Anytime I try to talk about Grimmauld place the spell they put on the house stops me. I will force them to help me get rid of the Order soon and I will get him the portrait, maybe it will help. _

He knocks gently at their door, waiting for one of them to let him in. Usually he would just barge in, but now he is not sure he is welcome. He can hear quiet “Come in” from his Papa and slowly opens the door.

They lay on the bed, Dad curled under Papa’s arm, head buried in his chest. Papa smiles at him encouragingly, so he toes of his shoes and climbs onto the bed, curling himself behind Dad and hugging him from behind.

“I’m sorry for your loss Daddy.” he says quietly, rubbing his back gently.

Tom turns around, eyes red and puffy and hugs him close. “Thank you Haddy, it means a lot to me.” he plants a little kiss on top of his head. “You’re a sweet boy, you remind me of him a lot you know?”

“Really? Will you tell me about him? I mean you don’t have to tell me about it! We can just hug.”

Tom smiles gently at his boy. The loss of Reggie, so sudden and shocking hurts like hell, but he finds out he doesn’t mind talking about him to Hadrian, he even wants to. He wants Haddy to know his uncle, even if it is only through his stories.

“Regulus, he is… was the younger son of Orion and Walburga Black, Mama’s cousin.” Haddy knows that of course, but he does not dare to interrupt, not yet.

“He was little bit younger than any of us, younger than even Rab, he was still at school when you were born. Despite being younger, Rab and he were inseparable since they were children and so it happened that I got to know him too. He was this shy little thing, incredibly smart, but…. He had an older brother you know” Haddy nods “Sirius was an idiot, he hated his family, no one really knows why, but he hated them and he was venting this hate on poor Reggie. Reggie... it got better once Sirius got disowned, but the abuse left its toll on him. It was hard for him to make friends, he might have seem cold and distant to people who didn't know him, but that was his way of protecting himself I think. Once you've overcome that, he was the best, most loyal friend you could have.”

Lucius adds in dark tone “I can’t even count how many times we had to hold back Rab from killing that idiot Sirius. Everytime Reggie came back with a new bruise, Rabastan was ready to run and kill him. Reggie didn’t want them to fight, he always begged us to just let it go, convincing us that he is okay, that it was just an accident.” he shakes his head, still angry that they let it slide for so long. “At the end we decided to go to their parents, they didn’t know about it, you know?”

“How could they not know about it?” Haddy asks confused and angry at Regulus’ behalf.  _ How could their parents not know what was happening right under their noses? _

“They knew about Sirius’ hate for all Slytherin or Dark, but they knew nothing about his abuse. Most of it happened at Hogwarts as he made sure not to spend much of the summer holiday at home, he prefered to stay at his friend’s house.”

“And the teachers? Did they not report it?”

Lucius’ laugh is hard to listen, full of hate and anger “Who? McGonagall and Slughorn? One so far up Dumbledore’s ass she has no idea what is happening around her and the second more interested in getting all the famous and influential students under his thumb than looking at what is really happening in his own House. Regulus was the second son, not an heir and Slughorn had no interest in the second sons.”

Hadrian is shaking in anger.  _ But his portrait was so confident! Was it only a mask, like all the pureblood wear? Why was he even talking to me when I said I am a Potter? Sirius’ heir on top of that? It would be like someone coming to me and saying they are the son of Dudley or Piers. _

“What did his parents do?”

“They kicked Sirius out, forbid him to ever come back and forced the School Board to open an investigation why they did not prevent it. Slughorn as the Head of Slytherin was fired, but there were no consequences for McGonagall I think, at least none of them were made public.”

“And that stopped Sirius?” Haddy asks, doubt clear in his voice. “I saw some of what he did to Sev and I think it was after he was disowned.”

“No, it did not, he was still a bully, but he was too afraid to go after Reggie again, instead he focused on Sev, because he knew his family had no influence and would not stand up for him the way the Black’s did.”

“I thought Sirius tormented him because of Lilly and James’ love for her!”

“Yes, that is true, they always fought, but it was not that serious, calling eachother names and some pranks, but after he could not go after Reggie, the abuse accelerated and he became more violent.”

“That, that PRICK! I wish he would be still alive so I can kill him with my bare hands!”

Tom rubs his back, trying to ease his agitation “I should chide you for your language, but I think the word ‘prick’ describes him pretty well. Reggie was a quiet boy who loved to read, he… once I’ve got to know him, I started to consider him my younger brother. You know that strangers often mistook us for relatives?” there is a fond smile on Tom’s face, his mind lost in shared memories of long afternoons spent in London just walking around or sitting in caffés discussing everything from star constellations to muggle fantasy fictions the younger boy loved so much.

Hadrian watches him closely, glad that he is not sad anymore, or at least not only sad. He wanted to talk about the portrait he found, of how he will bring it to him, but the spell tied his tongue. He promised himself that one day he will get it, he will reunite his Dad with his younger brother.

They talked long into the night, Tom telling story after story, Lucius adding his view or a story on his own. It made Hadrian long for a chance to meet this man who meant so much to his parents. It made him also angry, Reggie, same as he, were both victims of Dumbledore’s greed and the love he could hear in each of Dad’s word made him want to take the man down even more.

 

For Tom, morning comes too soon. He wakes up in a cold bed, head still fuzzy from the sleep and yesterday’s pain. He dresses slowly and heads to search for his family.

They are all gathered in the small breakfast room overlooking the gardens, eating quietly. It feels as if a strange spell was placed on the room, all sounds are strangely muffled in his ears, not even clink of cutlery interrupting the silence. The gardens, usually so bright and colorful behind the tall windows are barely visible, autumn fog clinging to naked branches. It feels like the house is a boat, lost in the middle of seas and the people gathered in the room are the only beings alive in this strange little world.

Instead of a greeting them, Tom simply walks towards Lucius from behind, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and hiding his face into his neck. He takes his time kissing his husband without a word, not willing to break the strange silence.

Lucius can see and feel that through their bond and does not force him. He pulls him into his lap, hugging him close.

They eat in in silence, exchanging smiles and fond looks.

A hesitant cleaning of the throat interrupts the peace of the room, they all turn to the door where Fenrir Greyback nervously steps from foot to foot. Fen was not sure if he was suppose to stay last night, Riddle invited him to, but it was before he found out about Regulus’ disappearance.

He feels awkward interrupting what is obviously a family breakfast, but his people are more important that his own comfort. “Egh, you said we will discuss the packs today.” he reminds when no one says a word.

“Of course my friend, I’m sorry. Please sit with us and have a breakfast. We can talk afterwards.”

 

They move to the study, only Fenrir, Lucius and Tom and sit in the comfortable chairs in front of the fireplace, slowly sipping their tea.

“Tell me Fenrir, what happened with the packs while I was… not here?” Tom bides him to start.

Fenrir stays quiet for a while, gathering his thoughts: “Before you… when my father was the leader of the packs, there were more than 7 hundreds of us in Britain, we were prospering, respected…. Now, now there is only 343 werewolves, mostly strong young males.”

Both Lucius and his mate gasp in shock at that revelation, they knew the situation was not ideal, but they did not think it was that bad. The wolves were always little bit secretive.

“What happened? Did your people leave Britain? Where did they go?” Lucius would certainly hear if there was such a big movement of creatures, the Ministry would be buzzing with it!

“I wish that would be the truth, some of them left, but most… most are dead. You know that creatures are now considered unwanted in what they call the ‘polite society’” he growls with clear disdain “but we were impacted the most. The world is convinced that we are monsters, that we eat children for dinner and other nonsense. My people are unable to find jobs and even if they would have money, almost no one wants to do business with them. You can see, feel the looks they give you the moment they notice that you’re a werewolf” he angrily raises his right wrist, there wrapped snugly and buzzing with magic is a red bracelet with werewolf written on it. Every one of them must wear it since they are 10 years old and shift for the first time, Ministry made sure of it “they reach for their wand, block your path towards their families or hurl insults at you. I can’t even walk through the city without someone someone spitting at the ground at my feet and all because I was born differently! Being werewolf is not a bloody choice! You can’t help it, the same way you can’t choose your color of hair or skin!” Fenrir jumps out of the chair, angrily pacing in front of the windows. Talking about this, this  **racism** always makes him mad. His gums and nail beds are itching to release his fangs and talons even if he can’t shift as it is not a full moon yet.

He turns sharply towards the couple watching him with bad concealed pity in their eyes “Do you know where my people are? Do you know how they died? It was starvation! Imagine it! In this century, how can someone die from hunger in this fucking century?! Men, women, old and young, small babies in their cribs died because they could not afford food! We tried everything! Farming, but no one would sell us seeds! Hunting, but there are laws against going after the game in Muggle areas and we would kill us upon sight. Stealing, I tried everything, everything! And they keep starving!” he crumbles to the ground, sobbing desperately. He is tired, so so tired.

Two pairs of arms wrap around him soothingly, both Lucius and Tom sitting next to him, offering comfort the best way they can. “Everything will be alright, we will help you, I promise.” Tom starts.

“Yes, we will, no one should go through what you and your people did. We will open one of the castles for you and you can have all the food you want.” Lucius adds.

“NO! I can’t! We can’t do that!” Fenrir starts desperately.

“Come on Fen, we’re allies, if you insist we can find a way how you’ll pay…”

“It’s not that! We’re desperate, I’m far over the point when my pride would prevent me from taking any help, in whatever shape or form. I’m saying you can’t have us in one of your properties, it will get out, it always somehow gets out and you’ll be where we are. Constantly under attack. Do you want that? Do you want that kind of life for your sons?!”

“Don’t worry…”

“I do! I do worry, someone has to! You need to think of the consequences, of what you and our side will lose if you do that. People need to believe in you, you need to gain public’s favor and it won’t happen if they will know that you are in pact with us!”

“Fenrir” Tom lays his hand on the werewolf’s shoulder, trying to ease his agitation “you know how many properties I inherited? I don’t know myself, there could be thousands of them. There must be at least one, that could not be found. The Slytherin line was never fond of visitors, please let me reach out to the Bank, we can at least look through them and see if there would be some that could be used. Please.”

It is the please at the end that decides. Fenrir is still uncomfortable to expose them to his world, they are after all his only hope to really change what is happening in their world, but he can’t refuse Tom’s pleading, he pledged him his loyalty yesterday and that means he trusts him to do what is best for them all.

 

They quickly send a house elf to the Bank to ask the family teller to come to the Mansion, it would not be wise for all three of them to appear in the Diagon right now. Luckily Srorg, the teller for Slytherin/Peverell/Gaunt lines agrees to come after lunch and bring all the necessary documentation.

All that remains is to wait.

 

“Fen?” asks Tom, they all still sit on the ground under the window of the study.

“Hmmm?”

“How did it happen? I mean, how could Dumbledore spin it the way that you are the monsters?”

A dangerous growl escapes the werewolf's lips. “There was a man, he was a… fanatic, convinced long before anyone else that all werewolves should be killed on sight. His name was Heinrich Lupin and he had a son, Remus. When the child was young, it was bitten by a werewolf while playing in their backyard. Or that is at least what they claim. My father ran an investigation, from pack to pack, but he couldn't find who did it. The public, led by that old goat blamed me. You see, I had a public fight with the man few days prior the incident, he bothered some of our pack members while we were shopping in Diagon, shouting insults and such and I stopped him. They said that I was unstable, that because I couldn't hurt the father, I took it out on the son. Within few days the whole Britain knew who I was and that all werewolves are monsters. Our children were forbidden to attend school from fear that they would hurt someone, never mind that they were too young to shift or that it was not full moon. Since then, the only one who attended Hogwarts was Remus Lupin, he became Dumbledore's poster boy and pet, following him as if the man is his alpha.”

“But who bit him? Did you ever find out?”

“No, we did not. I would not put it behind Dumbledore that he set it up somehow. You see, when we could not find the culprit, he and his supporters started to shout for my father's head, saying that he is trying to protect me from justice and that if he was the Alpha of all British packs and could not present the one who did it, he is to take the blame.

They put him down like a rabid dog in the entrance hall of the Ministry of Magic, the hall was full, but no one stood up and tried to stop them, or maybe they did, I wouldn't know as no werewolf was allowed anywhere near the Ministry that day. He had no chance to defend himself, no trial, Dumbledore decided he was guilty and must be killed for 'the greater good'. We were hunted ever since.”

Both Tom and Lucius have million questions, but they can see the defeated slump of his shoulders, the pain in his eyes and so they bite their tongues.

Lucius calls a house elf and talks with him quietly. After a minute he pushes a steaming mug into Fenrir's hands, encouraging him to drink.

The man takes a sip and raises his head in confusion “It's chocolate!”

“Yes, chocolate. The best cure for any sorrow. At least that's what my Dragon says, even more effective with some marshmallows in it” Lucius winks and hands him a little bowl full to the brim with sweet goodness.

 

Haddy and Cissa join them for lunch, the discussion revolving about Haddy's French lessons. The boy hates them with passion, convinced that he will never learn.

Cissa is trying to be as encouraging as possible, but she is slowly losing hope too. The boy simply does not have talent for it and no matter what metod she tries, nothing sticks.

Dessert is being served when a house elf announces Srorg.

When the goblin steps into the room, he is not alone. He is followed by a young man with hair in color of fire, hair, that mark him clearly as Weasley.

They jump from the table as one, brandishing their wands, while Fenrir takes a challenging stand, blocking him from entering the room further.

“Srorg! Why did you bring him here?! He is our enemy!” Lucius’ voice is full of fury, he doesn't even bother to hide it.

The old goblin is completely unperturbed by their animosity. “Don’t worry, he is one of ours best employees, he is on our side.”

“He is not! He is Bill Weasley! A member of the Order of Phoenix!” Haddy can’t hold back his anger at this betrayal. He knew goblins always look out for themselves before anyone else, but he did not expect them to betray them! “I saw him in the meetings of the Order million times!” He glares when Bill tries to defend himself.

He can see the surprise and confusion as he studies Haddy's face.  _ Fuck! I gave myself away! Now he will know who I am and Dumbledore will come for me! I can’t let that happen  _ panic starts to fill his head, his vision swimming  _ we need to get rid of him, he can never return to them! _

Quick as a cobra, Haddy whips his wand and throws a binding spell onto the oldest Weasley son. But Bill is no beginner, despite Haddy's training and talent, Bill is a seasoned duellist and avoids the spell easily. He does not dare to send a spell back, he knows that he would be dead the moment he'd raise his wand.

Despite not attacking back, the boy's action caused a flurry of movements from the others and he misses Fenrir Greyback who approaches his from behind and tackles him to the ground.

Bill always thought of himself as a brave man, but staring into the hate filled eyes of the infamous Alpha makes him quiver. “Please don’t hurt me.” he begs “What Master Srorg said is true, I am not and will never be on Dumbledore’s side again.”

Fenrir is confused, why would a Weasley be against the Headmaster? He eases his hold a little bit, but not entirely, still not convinced that it is not a trick.

“Mr. Weasley was one of the employees we caught working for the Headmaster” the old goblin manager explains in grumpy voice. He puffs up like an angry pigeon, clearly offended that they question his decision to bring the man with him “however it was discovered during his questioning, that he did not do so willingly. He was under a lot of spells and compulsions placed on him by his family and the Headmaster. We purged him and he pledged his allegiance to our cause. That’s why I brought him here today. He can be crucial in defeating the Order as they have no idea that he knows about their manipulations.”

“How can you be so certain that he is not playing you?” Lucius is still angry, this could potentially be a very dangerous situation for them, it can ruin all their plans!

“Are you questioning the abilities of the Nation to extract the truth?” the goblin narrows his black beady eyes dangerously, but Lucius is not to be discouraged.

“We are talking about the safety of my family, friends and everything we believe in! We must be certain!” he turns to the son of his life-long enemy, still held against the wall by Fenrir. “If you are truly on our side, you would not be opposed to a questioning under Veritaserum, wouldn’t you agree Mr. Weasley?”

“Yeah, whatever. Just tell him to let me go!” Lucius smirks evilly, but does not command Fenrir to let him go. He orders a house elf to bring him a vial of Veritaserum instead.

Once he has the bottle in hand, he turns to Hadrian “Angel, how about you go to your room for now? I think we can cancel your afternoon lessons, I know you had a hard time this morning”

Hadrian’s only answer is a fierce glare and stubborn tilt of his chin.

Lucius sighs dejectedly, he knew his effort will be fruitless, but he had to at least try to shield the boy. His little Haddy can be stubborn as a bull and sometimes too curious for his own good. Lucius throws him a disapproving look, but does not push the matter further and instead approaches Fen’s captive.

The potion he holds was prepared by Severus, they never use potions prepared by different Potion masters, his are the best after all. Plus he can be a right pain in the arse if offended and if he found out that Luc uses a product from a different master, he would throw a fit of gigantic proportions.

“This Veritaserum was developed and prepared by my close friend” he starts. “It is much stronger that the one you know. No spell or charm can fool it. I will know if you lie.”

Bill nods in understanding as he is hauled by the werewolf towards the closest chair and shoved in. He opens his mouth without prompting and swallows obediently when Lucius plants 2 drops on his tongue.

“Okay, lets try if this work. What is your name?”

“William Arthur Weasley, my nickname is Bill”

“When were you born?”

“29. November 1970”

“Who are your…”

“Those are stupid questions you ask Papa!” Haddy interrupts him impatiently “Everybody must ask these same stupid questions, he would be prepared if he would be a spy!”

Lucius turns to his son with a deep frown, hands firmly planted on his hips. Hadrian is getting very insolent lately, not following his orders, being rude or whining half of the time, not trying hard enough during his lessons… and Lucius patience is wearing thin. He loves his little angel to the Moon and back, but even if he would never do it again, sometimes he wishes he could just throw him over his knee and spank him. “I presume you have a better idea?” he asks prissily.

“Duh” Haddy rolls his eyes and approaches Bill. He does not see how Lucius hands curl into fists at his side, how the tips of his talons start to emerge. He does not see how Tom approaches him from behind, kissing his neck and hugging him closer either.

The boy is completely oblivious to how angry is his Papa, focusing on his enemy instead. He is trying to think of what he could ask. He starts simply: “Are you a spy for Albus Dumbledore, the Order of Phoenix or your family?” he throws a glare back at Papa when he hears his disdainful snort. Luc just could not hold it back, the boy accused him of asking obvious questions and the first one he asks is ‘are you a spy’, ridiculous.

“No, I am not a spy.”

“Ehhh… in one year the Weasley family won a main prize in the Daily Prophet, which year it was?”

Bill’s answer “1993” was overshadowed by Lucius’ question “How are these questions any better than mine?”

“I’m getting there! Okay, why Arthur Weasley hates Malfoys so much.”

“The feud between Weasleys and Malfoys started centuries ago, no one even remembers why. Arthur hates mainly their Lord, Lucius. He thinks Lucius Malfoy is a fool who got where he is now only because of his money and that he, my Father, is much smarter than him.”

“That stupid blood traitor! I am much smarter than he is!”

Hadrian ignores his outburst and continues “And Mrs. Weasley?”

“She hates mainly Lady Malfoy, she was always envious of her wardrobe…”

“I told you so!” Narcissa hisses gleefully in Luc’s direction, eyes shining in victory.

“... and she hates that the Malfoys are always invited to all the Ministry functions and balls and she is not.”

“Ha, I knew it! That hateful hag! ...”

“Hadrian are you heading somewhere with this? The potion works for only 20 minutes and we already wasted 7 of it.” Tom quickly interrupts what looks like one of Narcissa’s famous rants why Molly Weasley is the devil himself.

“Yes, I have one last question. I want to ask him somethiiing, something embarrassing! Something he would not want to share with strangers normally.” he quickly spins back towards Bill “When did you lose your virginity and with whom?”

“HADRIAN!” the shocked gasps come from all three of his parents, while Fenrir almost falls to the ground from laughing too hard.

Despite Veritaserum numbing body’s natural responses, Bill’s face is aflame with embarrassment when he answers “I did not yet” he admits quietly “I’m waiting until I find my mate.”

“Awww” both Narcissa and Hadrian coo at how sweet that is and Lucius decides he had enough of their prying. He is 100% sure the potion works, as no one would admit such a thing willingly. He pushes Hadrian away from the still red faced Weasley boy “Enough Hadrian, we are now sure the potion works and I can continue the questioning” Hadrian pouts, but steps back, letting his Papa handle it.

 

Lucius questions Bill till the Veritaserum in his blood evaporates. He could give him more, but he is now certain that as surprising as it is, William Weasley is truly on their side. It turned out it was his family who bound him under a compulsion first. His mother wanted him to come home from his assignment in Egypt and help the Order. When he refused, she put a spell on him.

Luc apologizes to Srorg for doubting him and the Nation and the goblin accepts, even if not graciously.

They finally explain why they called them in the first place and spend the afternoon going through the properties of the combined Slytherin/Gaunt/Peverell lines to find the one most suitable for werewolves.

They find an old castle, deep in scottish Highlands that is perfect and immediately start preparations for the packs to move there.


	25. The Weasley invasion vol. 1

Bill is so relieved he escaped relatively unharmed. When Master Srorg first told him where they’re going, he thought he will certainly die here. After all, he is the first Weasley in centuries who stepped on Malfoy’s property and survived. Not to mention that this place basically serves as the headquarters of the Dark side!

He must say that he was slightly disappointed though, not by the lack of opulence or anything (geez probably even toilettes in this place are made of gold or something), but by the apparent lack of blood and dead bodies. Yeah, yeah, he knows that the Dark side does not equal murder and that he was fed lies since he was a child, but such a prejudice is now largely instinctual and he needs to consciously remind himself that for lack of better words dark is good and light bad. 

His heart beat is still slightly elevated, but lately it is his normal state. Ever since he learned of his family's betrayal, he lives scared half to death, always looking over his shoulder, always pretending like he doesn't know about it.

But now, now his focus is elsewhere.  _ Who was the boy? How did he know my name? He even said he saw me on the meetings, but I've never saw him before!  _ Maybe something of his mother's obsessive curiosity rubbed off on him, but he just simply cannot leave the Malfoy's mansion without figuring it out.

He walks behind Master Srorg towards the Floo room. They are led by a small house elf who opens the door and with a deep bow leaves. He sees the old goblin take some Floo powder from an ornate tortoise shell conveniently placed on the mantle of the giant marble fireplace. He needs to think of something quickly!

“Eghh, I forgot my quill there! Go ahead, I will be back in five minutes.”

The creature turns to him with a suspicious look. It is clear he knows that it is just an excuse, but does not call him on that “Be careful young Weasley, do not bite off more than you can handle.” with that he turns around and disappears in a wall of green flames.

_ This is an enormously idiotic idea, run while you can  _ the little angel on his shoulder tries to tell him, it sounds suspiciously like Percy that summer when he got his first prefect badge and though it gives him right to command all his brothers.

_ Don’t listen to that idiot! This is too suspicious! We need to figure it out!  _ and that is his devil, well devils, because all the ‘bad’ thoughts in his head usually sound like Fred and George.

His curiosity is too big to deny them and he slowly tip toes back to the door. The boy remained in the room with the adults, but surely he will soon head towards his own room, teenagers always try to get rid of their parents as soon as possible, all he need to do is to hide and wait for the best moment to catch him alone.

 

“Hadrian, please stay in the room a little bit longer” Tom's voice is calm, but it has a clear undertone of an order. He remained seated after the others finished their teas and stood to go their way. Both Haddy and Luc turn to him “What is it my love?” Luc asks, he can feel certain anger through their bond, Tom is not really angry, more… displeased.

“I would like to talk to our son alone please.”

Lucius is obviously not happy about it, he is interested why would his mate want to talk with their son without his presence, he never did something like that before! But before he can open his mouth, Tom looks at him pleadingly: “Please beloved, I will explain later.”

He huffs to show that he is not mollified, but turns around and leaves them alone. Tom just sighs, he knows that this will cost him. Lucius was on edge the whole day and he only made his mood worse. Well, he will deal with that later, now he has his son to reprimand.

“Sit down Hadrian.” he points at the chair to his right.

Hadrian drags his feet, looking sullen. His face is so similar to Lucius’ just a minute ago, that Tom must fight a fond smile. It would not be good to show the fondness he has for his boy right now, Haddy is smart, he knows this won’t be a pleasant conversation about the weather.

The boy plops into the assigned seat, slouching inelegantly.

Tom does not react, that is exactly what he wants, to provoke a reaction. So he stays mute, just looking at him with a neutral expression.

Just a minute passes and Hadrian already starts to shift uncomfortably. Tom continues his silence until he sits like a proper pureblood.

“Well, I can see that you finally deemed it appropriate to act as the heir of several Most Noble Houses you are so we can start.” he says while watching impassively how red floods Haddy's pale cheeks.

“I was observing your behaviour for several days now, especially towards your Papa and I must say that I am very disappointed in you.”

He can see anger rise in the boy's eyes. Where is their meek, obedient son now? Tom was so concerned with his submissive and almost childish behaviour before, the old Hadrian would never be angry at his comment, he would be sad, most probably crying his eyes out.

It is as if Hadrian heard his last thought, because big crocodile tears start to roll down his face, giving him a look of a pure, wounded innocence. But Tom can see through his mask, he was never raised as a proper pureblood, therefore his masks are still work in progress and the anger burning behind his eyes is still visible.

“What do you mean Daddy?” he asks.

If he’d use that tone of voice with anyone else in the family, maybe except Narcissa, they would be compelled to comfort him immediately, but Tom is stronger than that. He is! He must be! To keep himself from jumping out of the chair, he focuses on listing on the things the boy did: “You disobeyed his order not to attend our  **secret** meeting, despite him promising to tell you what was agreed there.”

“But he wouldn’t tell me all of it! I’m certain! He thinks of me as a little child, but I am an adult and if I am to fight….”

Tom just raises his hand, sending a silent Silencio “First, if you do not want to be treated as a child, you may consider not acting like one. This is not how a proper pureblood adult behaves. We do not interrupt others, we do not shout, we listen and then use well thought arguments when it is our turn.”

Hadrian sends him an angry glare, but is unable to say anything.

“Your Papa had a very good reason why he did not want you there and it was not because he didn’t want you to know what will be discussed. We did every precaution we could think of, but there was still a chance that someone from Light side will sneak in and he was just trying to protect you. The second think was your behaviour today. You were exceptionally rude. Lucius is your Lord and you need to show him the respect his title deserves, especially when strangers are present. Imagine yourself being one of our followers, what would you think about a leader that lets his child talk to him the way you did?”

He can see that Hadrian is thinking about it, he knows the boy didn’t mean any offence, he just didn’t think about the consequences. “I will now lift the Silencio.”

“Thank you Dad” Hadrian says in much more respectful tone. “I… I am sorry, I did not think about it like that.”

“I am not the only one who should get this apology don’t you think?”

“You’re right, I will talk to Papa later”

“Come here Haddy” Tom outstretches his hand, pulling the child into his lap, gently running his hand up and down his back. “You know you can come and tell us if there is something bothering you right? We love you and will always be here for you.”

Haddy looks up at him, his gaze full of insecurity, even after months of living with his real family, it is hard to trust, to talk openly with them. He never had an adult he could talk to before, Dursleys hated him, the teachers at school and Dumbledore rarely truly listened, always following what they wanted, what they thought is the best….

He snuggles under Tom’s arm, hiding his face when he mumbles “I miss Draco and… and Lys, Luna… my friends. All I do all day is either my lessons or reading, there is this feeling pushing me to do something, to fight Dumbledore, to do more, not just sit around.”

“I know that feeling, I have the same. But we must be smart about it, we cannot rush and make a mistake and let the old goat win again. I would not survive losing my family again.”

Haddy nods, he knows it. He knows there are plans in place that will help them, that they will act soon, it’s just… maybe something rubbed off on his from his Gryffindors yearmates and that something is pushing him to act quickly, rashly.

Tom continues “And the fact that you are bored by your routine and you miss your friends, did you forget the party Mama is preparing for you? You can help her if you want, I know she will be happy to have you and you can invite anyone you want.”

He can see his little face light up and feels a warmth spill inside his chest, he was worried how sad the boy looked the last few days, the party is exactly what he needs.  _ Maybe I should talk to Luc about sending him back to school, I know we promised him that he can return eventually. He should not live so separately from his peers. _

His thoughts are interrupted by Hadrian’s suddenly very cheery chattering. The boy is practically vibrating in his seat, ready to go and organize the party himself.

Tom kisses the top of his head “You can go and see Mama now, I’m sure if she is the only one organizing it, it will be more a Ball and not the kind of party you imagine.” he chuckles at the mental picture.

“Thank you Dad” Haddy hugs him tightly “and I’m sorry about being mean to Papa, I didn’t mean to.”

 

Bill is standing hidden in the Floo room for almost twenty minutes and is getting nervous.What if someone finds him? He put a Notice me not spell on himself, but there is always a chance someone will see right through it. And if they find him loitering here, not even the fact that they are allies now will help him. Lucius Malfoy will skin him alive and no one will ever find his poor tortured body.

_ Where is the boy? The others left the dining room together, just the boy and Tom Riddle stayed. And Tom Riddle… how bloody crazy is that? Voldemort! He looks completely different than what I imagined, from the way Harry described him he looked snake-like and didn’t have a nose, but this man had and he was very very hot, what the snake face under it? Was it just a glamour? _

He is torn from from his thoughts by a sound of door opening. He squeezes his eye to the little opening he left in the door to watch who is it. It seems that Lady Luck is on his side today for it is the boy and he is alone.

“Psst, come here.” he whisper-yells, making him stop in his tracks and look around suspiciously. Bill realizes that he probably cannot see him due to the spell and cancels it.

The boy’s eyes open wide and then narrow suspiciously. His hand starts to near the wand holster on his waist, while his mouth open like he is gonna yell for help.

“Please do not scream!” Bill says urgently, showing him his hands to show he means no harm “I just want to talk to you, nothing more, I swear.”

“If you wanted to talk, then why didn’t you say so earlier? Why hide and sneak around?”

“I wanted to talk to you, without your… parents?” Were they his parents? Ron did mention something about a new Malfoy who came to Hogwarts, but Bill cannot be sure.

The boy does not answer, but is obviously curious. “If you want to talk, only to talk, give me your wand.”

Bill sighs, it is against every instinct of a wizard to give his wand to someone else, but he can see how fair the request is. “Okay, I will pull out my wand, it is in my sleeve and roll it to you.” He slowly reaches into his sleeve, not wanting to spook the kid and then lowers himself and rolls it towards the boy.

Hadrian quickly jumps after it and then back to safe distance once he has it. “So what did you want to talk about?”

“Not here, please come to the room, I don’t want anyone to overhear what is going to be said.”

And the suspicious look is back, so Bill opens the large door wide to show him there is no one else in the room. “Okay, step back and sit on the green sofa” the teenager commands, holding his own wand focused on Bill’s chest. The oldest Weasley does as is commanded and is relieved to see, that the boy followed him in, even if he remains standing next to the door.

“Well?” he prompts.

“I wanted to ask who you are.”

“What concern is it to you?”

“I mean, you know me, my name, you know I attended the meetings of the Order of Phoenix, but I never saw you there.”

“I though you’re the smart Weasley, didn’t you figure it out by now?”

Bill ignores the jab, this is no time to get offended and thinks.  _ Who were the people attending the meetings? The boy could be anyone, if he used the polyjuice potion, he doesn’t even have to be a male. But Dumbledore would know if someone polyjuiced, the wards on the Headquarters would tell him, righ? Who else was there? My siblings, Hermione, Harry Potter  _ his mind just blanks in that moment  _ Wait a minute! Harry Potter disappeared at the beginning of the school year and no one could find a trace of him! Is it him? What would he do here? But there is no other explanation… _

“Are you Harry Potter?”

“No, my name is Hadrian Thomas Lucius Gaunt Malfoy Riddle” he says, obviously proud at his lineage “but you did know me as Harry Potter” he admits.

“Harry! What are you doing here? We looked for you everywhere!” he jumps out of the sofa, rushing towards the boy only to be stopped by a glowing tip of a wand pointed his way.

“I said my name is Hadrian, not Harry! There is no Harry, there never was.”

Bill is confused, Harry Potter is not real?

“Harry Potter is a name Dumbledore gave me when he kidnapped me from my true family. I did not know until I went to the Gringotts few months ago and took an Inheritance test.”

“But how, why?”

“That is not important, important is what you’ll do with this information. You said you are on our side now, so you must keep my secret.”

“Of course! But who else knows? Does Ron…”

“NO! Ron doesn’t know, he can’t know.”

“But…”

The glare shot his way makes him swallow down what he wanted to say.  _ Ron doesn’t know, Harry… Hadrian doesn’t want him to know. Weren’t those two best friends? Mum always said they were inseparable, well Mum said a lot of things. _

“And the twins?” there is a flicker of regret in Hadrian’s eyes. “They are looking for you too, you know.”

“They do not know either.”

“Why not? Do you not trust them? I’m sure they would listen to you and would not betray your secret.”

“You think so?” he asks with a hope filled voice, it is obvious he likes the twins and misses them.

“I’m sure about it, why don’t you go and visit them? They now live above their shop in the Diagon. I can go with you if you want and we can go right now.”

He can see him hesitate “I’m not sure….”

“Come on, what are you afraid of? You know them, they would care who your parents are, they are not like that.”

“But I cannot just go…. Wait here please.” he turns and leaves with Bill’s wand still clutched in his hand.

 

Hadrian goes to Dad, he knows that if he goes to Papa, he won’t be allowed to go, at least not without the full escort and he kind of wants to go alone. He truly believes that the twins won’t betray him, but… there is always this but and he would not forgive himself if Papa would be caught by the Light side just because he wants to visit some old friends.

He hopes to find him still in the dining room and he is in luck. Tom is still there, sipping his coffee and to be honest, hiding from the confrontation with his love he knows is waiting for him.

“What is it Haddy?”

“Ugh, I want to go to Diagon, can I go?”

“Sure, we can go. When? And what do you need there?”

Haddy studies his shoes “Well, I was hoping I could go just with Bill, he is waiting for me…”

“Bill? You mean the Weasley boy? I thought he left with Srorg!” Tom jumps up, heading to the door. It is incredibly suspicious for him to still be in the Mansion. He is almost at the door when Hadrian moves into his path.

“He was waiting for me, he wanted to know who I am and how did I recognize him. Then he kinda figured it out and mentioned his brothers who live in the Diagon and if I want to visit them with him.”

“Haddy…” Tom starts carefully. It does not sound as the best idea to let him go alone to visit people who are not their allies. He knows Hadrian asks him, because Luc would be resolutely against it.

“Pleaaase, I promise I will be very careful. I will take my ring so you know if something goes wrong and also take a portkey so I can disappear in a second, pleaaaase.”

“I don’t know Haddy, it still feels dangerous and I think Papa won’t be happy about it.”

“We don’t have to tell him.” Hadrian states reasonably while his mind chants  _ please do not make me tell him, please do not make me tell him. _

“You would really do that to him? To me? Imagine how scared he would be if he wouldn’t find you here and how angry he would be with me.”

The boy can’t hold back his disappointment, so Tom picks him up and kisses that scrunched nose “I will make you a deal, I am okay for you to go under the condition you will tell him. And because I am the best dad, I will even come with you and help you convince him, okay?”

“Okay” the boy sounds like he is forcing him to clean dirty cauldrons and not talk to his beloved parent and Tom cannot hold back his smile.

 

He walks out of the room, his precious cargo still in his hands. “Mr. Weasley, please come out.” he knows the man needs to be somewhere near and his assumption proves correct when Bill steps out of the Floo room. “Please follow me.”

Lucius is with Cissa in one of the upper salons, going through the list of invitees for the boys’ party. He raises his head when someone walks in, smiling when he sees Tom carrying their little angel, but his face blanks when he sees who is behind them.

“Mr. Weasley, what are you still doing here?” he says, voice colored with displeasure.

“He is here because of me Papa. He asked me to come with him to Diagon, can I go?”

The adults quickly exchange a look and Lucius slowly slides towards the intruder, menace pouring out of him “Why would you want that Weasley?” his tone is dangerous, Bill know that he is just one wrong word away from a sea of pain.

He gulps and timidly explains “Ugh, I stayed behind because I wanted to talk to Hadrian. He said he knows me, but I would certainly remember ever meeting such a beautiful and clever boy.” he meant it as a compliment, after all what parents does not like to hear their brat is pretty and smart? Apparently Malfoy.

Lucius growls, not liking where this is going, he won’t have some dirty Weasley panting after his angel, even though it would be fun to see what would Sev do to him. “Be careful how you speak of my child, he already has his intended and he would chop you to pieces if he heard you now.”

Haddy giggles in the background, delighted by the though of jealous Severus chopping people for potion ingredients.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Bill is quick to defend himself “I don’t like him! I mean, I do, but not like that, he is not my type!” the poor boy goes completely red, the colour clashing horribly with his hair and Tom decided to grant him some mercy.

“He knows who Hadrian used to be and he wants to take him see his brothers who live there.”

“Yes Papa! The twins, you’d like the twins, they are my friends.”

“Wait outside Mr. Weasley. Flinky!”

“Yes, Master? What can Flinky do for you?”

“Take Mr. Weasley to the Floo room and stay there with him, we wouldn’t like him to roam our house unattended.”

“Flinky will do Master!” the small house elf takes the redhead’s hand and leads him out of the room.

Lucius waits for few seconds, just to be sure they are out of hearing range and approaches his mate and son, still not quite convinced “And you think these boys would be… safe to visit?”

“Yes, I am. They are like Lysander, they would not care who I am or who are my parents, they are good!”

Lucius gently pets his cheek, he is happy to see his angel so lively, he was little bit depressed lately, he did not leave the Mansion since the quidditch match and it is getting to him. “Okay, my sweet, I trust you. Just wait for me to change….”

“NO! I mean, I would like to go just with Bill, Papa.”

“Over my dead body Hadrian! Are you crazy?! What if someone hurts you or kidnaps you again?!”

“Papaaaa, I am not a child, besides I will have my rings and a portkey, what could happen?”

“Many, many things! Do not try fate like that, I would not survive if anything happened to you!”

“It won’t, I promise!”

They are both stubborn, convinced about their truth. They would stand there, glaring at each other for Merlin knows how long, if Tom wouldn’t decide to interfere.

“I think we should let him go.” That earns him a murderous glare, well he will sleep on the sofa today anyway, so he can at least earn it properly “Hadrian is right, he is considered an adult, he will be protected and he will promise not to wander around the Alley, but will stay in the house, right?”

“Yes, I promise. Pleaaase Pappa, pleaase, I’m going nuts here without Drake and Lys, I need to go out!”

Lucius still hesitates “Can we at least put a glamour on you?”

“No Papa, I want them to see me as I am, besides no one knows how I look like and no one will see me anyway.”

“You have your rings?” 

“Wueeey” Hadrian cheers, but dutifully wills the rings to materialize on his hand and shows them to Pappa. “The portkey?”

“I will make him one” Tom pulls a coin out of his pocket and with complicated wave of a hand turns it into portkey. “Just turn it twice and say home and it will bring you back.”

“Thank you” Hadrian is already grinning, he can’t wait to see the twins and their joke shop!

Lucius still doesn’t like it, but he knows it will make him good, he misses Draco and some of his friends. He takes Hadrian from Tom’s arms, squeezing him tightly. “Please be careful my angel and if everything goes right, please invite them for dinner, I would like to meet these friends of yours, maybe on Saturday?”

“Okay, I will ask them if they can come, but you won’t mind that they are Weasleys?”

Lucius scrunches his nose, but dutifully says “If they are your friends and you trust them, I wouldn’t mind if they were trolls.” 

Haddy laughs “Can we call also Draco, Lys and Luna? I did not see them for so looong.”

“Of course love, go now and don’t be long, if you’re not back in two hours I’m storming that house with every Death Eater I know, that is a promise!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading comments and kudos are always encouraged.
> 
> TO BE CONTINUED...  
> First I wanted to have the reunion of Haddy with Gred and Forge in this chapter, but it was getting too long.  
> So prepare yourself for next chapter where we will have  
> 1/ Haddy + twins reunion  
> 2/ Twins as guests at the Manor
> 
> Btw, for the sake of argument let's pretend Hadrian did not visit the shop during the Summer, the bad bad Order kept him locked at the Grimmauld place.


End file.
